The Hero and The Florist
by FenreldStormblade
Summary: Up for adoption. What if Ino started falling for Naruto after Pain's attack on the Village? What if Naruto realized that Sakura will never return his feelings? What if Naruto had a childhood crush on Ino before he did Sakura and before Ino fell into the Anti-Naruto mainstream? Watch as events unfold that lead to their happily ever after.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This is my first story, but I would like thank** **FleetingInterest** **for allowing me to use parts of his story** **I could almost fall for him** **. It gave me the inspiration to write this story, so be sure to check it out. It was the point when Ino said those words in the anime that made me start shipping NaruIno. Anyway, on with the story.**

Normal text – "Naruto"

Thought text – ' _Ino_ '

Jutsu/Bloodline – _**Rasengan**_

 _ **The Hero and The Florist**_

 **[Naruto's PoV]**

Naruto was walking through the Village Hidden in the Leaves, still overwhelmed at the praise and friendliness of everyone he passed after defeating Pain, his sibling student of the late Jiraiya. Even though he was filled with immense hatred at Pain for killing his master and devastating his home, Pain used his _**Rinnegan**_ to bring back everyone who died. This was due to Pain's belief that Naruto can change things in the ninja world for the better.

Not only that, but his mind was also filled with thoughts on what lead him to almost give up complete control to the Nine-tailed Fox – Hinata saving his life and her confession, only for her to get thrashed, stabbed through the gut, and seeing her seemingly lifeless eyes as blood poured out.

He knew he owed her big, and despite his deepest wishes, he knew Sakura would always love their former teammate, even if he was now a traitor who abandoned his home for the power necessary to fulfill his "ambition" of killing his older brother, Itachi.

' _Man, what should I do? That's the first time anyone's confessed to me like that… even to go so far as to risk her life to do so…'_ He thought as he mindlessly wandered the village. _'Maybe I should buy her a bowl at Ichiraku and by then, I'll have an answer on what to do. Lord knows Sakura won't give me a chance. She's still in love with Sasuke, even if he left on his own, knocking her out when he left.'_

Naruto inwardly groaned at that. _'She doesn't even realize how much it hurt me when she asked me to bring him back to her, making it a "once in a lifetime request." Sometimes I hate that I never go back on my word. Even if she hadn't made that request, I'd still bring that idiot back. He's like a brother to me.'_

' _I feel like I'm forgetting one other thing that I needed to do after getting back to the village... Oh, right…I need to do something about my sick little green friend. Maybe I should see if she can help my plant. Heh bet she'll be surprised that I garden, even if she is the reason I took up the hobby.'_

He then made his way to his place to pick up his plant, "Come on, time to get you fixed up. I know if anyone can help, it's Ino." He smiled and started to make his way to the Yamanaka Flower Shop.

 **[Ino's PoV]**

"'I could almost fall for him…' did I really say that out loud?!" questioned Ino Yamanaka.

She thought back to the previous day's events that lead to her current frustration. She was clutching Shizune's dead body in tears from not being able to save her mentor, Choji informing her of Kakashi's sacrifice to save his life, her Dad reassuring her that he and Shikaku were gonna stop him once and for all via their telepathic link only to unintentionally overhear his conversation with Naruto regarding his plan to deal with Pain by talking to him. This surprised her, especially since he stood up to her father, and even more so when Uncle Shikaku actually backed Naruto up by asking dad to trust Naruto.

She then remembered hoping he had a plan to come back unscathed. Then minutes later, the ground shook, and from the site that Naruto defeated the Six Pains alone, came a gigantic being of chakra. It opened its mouth and seemingly fired out a multitude of lights. She then thought that Naruto failed and that this was an attack to finish them all off, only for one of the lights to hit Shizune. Her being shocked by this was completely normal. What shocked her more was when she looked around, she saw the other mysterious orbs of light hit the other dead bodies of her companions. Then she felt her mentor's cold body suddenly warm up and come back to life. She knew this could not be possible seeing as how she tried everything to revive her black-haired teacher to the point she exhausted all her chakra reserves. Somehow deep down, she had a feeling that Naruto managed a miracle that brought back their deceased companions to the land of the living which was proven true when Tsunade's summoned slug, Katsuyu, relayed the information back to all of them about how he managed to change Pain, which in turn, caused him to decide to sacrifice his life to bring back the fallen of today. Almost immediately after the message was finished being relayed, she heard a loud cheer. The villagers were actually praising Naruto and were starting to chant his name. She could not imagine that this was really happening.

She could not believe that the village prankster and number one bane to the villagers' existence would one day be praised as, "The Hero of the Hidden Leaf." She saw all the villagers welcome him back with such warmth and cheer that for a moment, she forgot that they all used to see him as a nuisance.

Ino also recalled feeling grateful that Naruto managed to do all this and, for the first time, felt a tinge of jealousy towards Sakura who Naruto had feelings for and towards Hinata who just confessed to him in front of everyone. She then realized that she made the wrong call only going after cool guys like Sasuke, who ended up betraying them, and Sai, who was hopelessly clueless at life. She actually thought that she should have gone after Naruto instead.

"I could almost fall for him…" said Ino with a heart-warming smile on her face.

She was staring right at Naruto and did not notice that she accidentally said it out loud. Her teammates, who were standing right next to her, heard her say it and were shocked. They immediately gave a surprised reaction and tried to pester her to explain herself, but she didn't answer. She didn't mind at all nor did she show any hint of embarrassment.

Today was Naruto's moment and even she had to admit that he was very cool at that moment.

"Sigh. I messed up pretty badly and let a good catch get away. I can't believe it! I actually want to date Naruto now," said Ino to herself as she was bored tending to her family's flower shop.

She was alone at the counter when, speak of the devil, Naruto unexpectedly stepped inside their shop.

"Yo, Ino. What's up?" casually strolled the blonde ninja with a big goofy smile on his face.

 **[Normal PoV]**

He was happy to see Ino working today and noticed that she was bored at the counter tending to a single flower. Though she seemed bored, he noticed that she had a different look in her eyes than usual when she was taking care of that particular flower. He thought that it must be special.

"Oh hey! What's the big 'Hero of the Hidden Leaf' doing here?" Ino looked up as she teased him.

"Haha. You're embarrassing me, Ino. Just call me Naruto as always. I actually need some gardening help."

"You garden?!"

Ino was flabbergasted. She didn't know that Naruto had a cute sensitive interest like this. She giggled a bit on the inside.

"Hell yeah I do! Watering plants is actually a hobby of mine. See for yourself! Here's my pet project," said Naruto as he revealed a potted plant from behind his back.

"Hmm. Looks like it's lacking in nutrition. What happened to it?" said Ino as she carefully examined the plant.

"I forgot to take it with me when I went training to be a Sage, so I missed a couple of days to water it." He said feeling rather bad about it.

"Hmmm. I can definitely take care of it. Leave it with me for a week and I'll make sure it's back to good health. No charge."

"Thanks, Ino! I knew I could rely on you. You've always been a good friend through the years!" said Naruto flashing that goofy grin again.

"Always?! What're you saying?! We've only really started talking to each other after we graduated from the academy. I don't remember knowing you for that long at all." Ino was taken aback as to how close Naruto made it seem they were.

"Really? Well I got a good memory and I remember this one time before we started at the academy," said Naruto as he crossed his arms and started recounting what he remembered.

"What happened?!" At this point she was desperately trying to remember what could have happened between them.

"It happened during enrollment. I was outside by the swings while the Third was talking to the teachers to enroll me when you showed up. You were bored while your parents spoke to the teachers as well and you decided to sit next to me."

While Naruto was saying this, it hit her as she suddenly remembered a chance encounter from long ago.

 **[Flashback Start]**

"Hey! Nice hair. It's a little messy and spiky, but I like the color," said a smiling girl his age with the same hair color as him.

She was pretty and had a nice hair slide on.

"Are you talking to me?" questioned a despondent looking boy as he wasn't used to people talking to him.

"Of course, silly, do you see anyone else around?"

"Are you sure you should be talking to me?"

"Why not? You look like you're just as bored as me and two bored blondes got to stick together, right?"

"He-hehe."

"You finally managed to smile. That's great. You should smile more often! You have a really nice smile."

"Thank you."

"Hey. Let's have a game. Let's try to see who can swing the highest."

"You're on!"

They swung for a bit, but after a while, they slowly came to a stop. The boy wanted to know more about this mysterious person so he asked her a question.

"So, what does your family do for a living?"

"My family owns a flower shop so I know a lot about plants and stuff."

"Wow. Really?!"

"Yeah. Hey, you know what? I heard that if you ever feel lonely, you should talk to the plants while you water them. They'll respond to your feelings by growing up to be nice and healthy."

"Oh really?! Thanks!"

"Yeah! So, you should stop by our shop if you ever need any help with plants. That's a promise," said the girl while extending her pinky.

"Sure."

The boy extended his pinky as well and they entwined the two together signifying their promise.

"Hey. I have to go. It was nice to meet you. Let's hang out again next time," said the girl as she noticed that her parents motioned to her that they were done with their business and that they had to go.

Before she left, she gave him a light peck on the cheek. Naruto was so surprised, that he ended up forgetting to ask the girl what her name was.

 **[Flashback End]**

After Naruto finished his story, he noticed that Ino's cheeks turned a bright shade of red.

"You feeling okay there, Ino?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I be?" said an embarrassed Ino as she remembered that she technically gave her first "kiss" to Naruto.

At the time, she only wanted to cheer him up, but now that she had these feelings for him, she was really embarrassed. The awkward silence broke when Naruto suddenly interjected.

"It's too bad we never got to hang out after that. You were my first ever friend and I never got your name till way later. It made it really hard to approach you."

Ino remembered that there was a time that she wanted to hang out again with her new friend. However, she started hearing bad rumors about Naruto and painfully decided not to because she didn't want her other friends to not like her. Now that she remembered, she felt really guilty that she was so childish and immature to ignore a good friend just to conform to the norms.

"That's too bad. Tell you what, to celebrate the remembrance of our first encounter, let's go have ramen! It'll be my treat, Naruto!"

"Oh really? You're the best, Ino. I love you!" said a grinning Naruto as free ramen was not something he would ever pass up.

He was so excited that he didn't even notice that he said such an embarrassing line that made Ino blush again.

"Oh wait. We should invite Choji and Shikamaru as well," said Naruto as he didn't want Ino's teammates to be left out.

"Oh, don't worry about them. If Choji finds out about this, he'll force us to go get yakiniku instead. If you invite Shikamaru, Choji is bound to find out."

"Hmmm. You got a point there. Oh well. If they ever find out about it, I'll make it up to them somehow."

"Yup."

He then stopped and thought for moment. "Hey Ino. What should I do to make up for this?"

"What do you mean? You don't need to do anything, silly!"

"I got it. I'll buy some flowers."

"Oh really?" said an embarrassed Ino since she was surprised that Naruto would be considerate and started thinking that it'll be meant for her.

"Yup. I need to thank Hinata for saving my life, not to mention, give a reply to her confession. So, I'll support one friend's shop while giving another a present. Yes, that's such a great idea!" said a beaming Naruto with a big thumbs-up to show Ino that he really thought it was the perfect idea.

"Oh right," replied Ino with her high hopes dashed and she was instantly brought back down to reality.

She realized that just because she rediscovered this secret past between the two of them, it didn't change the fact that she was too late. Hinata loved Naruto the most and the longest. She deserved a chance to be happy and have her feelings reciprocated.

"Well, do you know what she likes?"

Ino tried to her best to hide her tiny bit of disappointment and be happy for Hinata.

"I don't know what kind of flowers she likes, but I do know that I want a flower that says something about her bravery. Umm… is there a flower like that?"

"Yup there is. I'm an expert and studied the language of flowers. That's my hobby and you definitely asked the right person. Check out this nice bouquet of peonies."

"Thanks, Ino."

"So, what're you gonna say to her?"

"Well her confession caught me by surprise since I never saw her in a romantic way, but I think I'll give it a try. It's about time that I move on from Sakura who, as we all know, will never stop loving Sasuke. Also, it's the first time someone ever told me that they loved me from the bottom of their heart. I was kinda touched," said a slightly embarrassed Naruto.

He tried to laugh it off, but Ino could tell that he was really excited about this. But being a girl that never truly gives up on what she wants, she saw her chance hearing that he never saw her in a romantic way, she quickly thought of a way to discreetly plant a seed of caution in Naruto's mind without making it obvious. So she decided to tease him before executing her plan.

"Oh. That's nice. Look at you, Naruto, all grown up and mature now. I'm proud of you."

"Haha."

Ino then paused before she started again, somewhat hesitantly, knowing how she's going to sound, "However Naruto, you should find out how and why she loves you."

Naruto gave her a questioning gaze, "…What do you mean, Ino?" wondering why she'd even bring this up.

Sensing this Ino quickly made it clear, fearing she'd be caught. "W-what I mean is, yeah she saved you in order to confess to you, but think for a second, she blushes everytime you get close or talk to her, and faints when you say something that could be taken out of context, whether you mean to or not. I don't know. But what I'm trying to say and I know this is gonna sound bad on my part…"

She trails off hesitantly, hoping he understands, "But, what she's feeling could be idolism, or hero worship… Granted I don't know why she likes you, but don't you think it's weird she has the same Nindo you do? 'To never give up, and never back down, no matter what?' I'm just saying this to you so you don't get hurt in the long scheme of things…" She finishes with a slight blush threatening to give away that she, herself, likes and wants to be with him.

He was too busy thinking about what Ino had said to notice, thinking to himself, _'she's right… I never gave it much thought, Hinata's always been a timid girl… but that shouldn't be reason enough to faint or blush so badly whenever I'm near her. Hell, I thought she was sick or something…'_

Ino noticed his pause and hoped he wasn't mad at her, but then he speaks up, calming those fears. "You're right… I think I'll do that. Thanks, Ino" Giving her his famous Mega Watt smile again.

Her blush only seemed to increase, and she could feel it too, so she quickly turned, averted her gaze to hide said blush, and noticed the flower she'd been taking care of before he walked in.

Calming her blush, or trying to at the very least, she picked it up. "Have this nice yellow camellia to add to your personal collection. You can keep it if you want, but for now, it can replace the one you left with me."

Ino gave Naruto a pot with a single yellow camellia flower growing. Naruto noticed that this flower was the one he noticed at the counter when he walked in. It seemed really special and distinct from the others. He could also tell that a lot of care was put into it by how healthy and radiant it looked.

"Oh really? It's nice. So, what's this flower mean in their language?"

She paused at this, knowing it meant longing but couldn't tell him that. Not without raising his suspicion. "It means… gratitude. I want to give it to you as thanks for everything."

"Oh really? Thanks a lot, Ino! I'll make sure to take care of this." He beamed at this, happy to take this amazing gift from his fellow blonde.

"Since you're about to meet up with Hinata, let's take a rain check on that ramen outing. Have fun on your date, Naruto!"

"Thanks again for all your help," said Naruto as he waved goodbye and walked towards the door.

Before he stepped out however, he turned around and said one last thing to Ino.

"You know, Ino, I should be the one to thank you. You don't know how much I owe you. You were my first friend, you gave me my love of plants and you gave me a reason to smile more often. Those were all thanks to you. I never said this to anyone, but you were my first love, Ino, and I thank you for being my first friend from the bottom of my heart," said Naruto before walking out the door.

For the first time, Ino saw Naruto blush a bright red.

 **[Ino's PoV]**

For a moment she stared at the door where Naruto had left, not believing what she just heard come from him.

"Sigh. I have such a terrible luck. I could've been with the guy I like now a long time ago," self-deprecatingly said a melancholy Ino to herself as she mockingly laughed at her current state.

This situation reminded her of those cheesy romance novels that she read. As she was talking to herself, her dad came back and entered through the shop entrance, where he proceeded to question Ino about Naruto's visit, and her giving the flower she had been saving to give to someone special. He then went on to give her some teasing encouragement, which naturally caused his daughter to lash out defensively and get embarrassed when he stated he wouldn't mind and would fully support if she and Naruto did end up going out in the future.

Still being embarrassed, she again lashed out defensively, telling him to mind his own business. It was with that he finally returned upstairs to their house.

"Sigh. I hope I am right about Hinata, but if I am, I highly doubt he'll be in any mood to move on from Sakura for awhile… all I can do is to be there for him if it is hero worship…" She sighed once more. "Man, I'm pathetic, secretly stepping between Hinata and her lifelong crush. Well, I better not think too much about it. Let's go out with the girls for some drinks and have some laughs. They'll get a kick out of this story. I wonder what Sakura would think? Heh, at least I one-upped her somehow since I was technically Naruto's first love."

 **[Naruto's PoV]**

At the same time, Naruto was fighting to get his vibrant blush down after his confession to Ino as he walked though the streets at a slightly quicker pace.

' _I can't believe I told her that…! And right when I'm about to confront Hinata about her feelings for me and make sure that what she feels is really love. Ino made a good point. I did stand up to her cousin, Neji, during the Chunin Exams, but she was fainting and blushing around me before that. Am I forgetting something that happened in the past?'_

' _Maybe I should go home, drop off Ino's gift and cool off before going to go see Hinata. I can't be thinking about Ino while I'm out with Hinata. and Ino called it a date. I guess it could be if her feelings are real.'_ He then paused briefly at that thought. _'But what if they aren't….? What if Ino's right? Will I be able to move on from that, will I go back to chasing after Sakura? Ino did promise me a ramen outing, which…could be considered a…. date….'_

Again, he pauses at that realization as a frown appears across his brow. _'Oh, my god! Ino asked me out on a date, and I talked about giving Hinata flowers after she asked me out! I really am an idiot… She must be so mad at me right now.'_

Saddened by this, he decided that dropping off Ino's gift was the best course of action in order to calm down and focus on his plan to confront Hinata.

 **Well that's the end of this chapter. Please review and let me know if I can do anything better, follow if you liked and/or favorite if you enjoyed it. And before any of you say that I stole a good portion of this chapter from** **FleetingInterest** **, he's given me permission to use his story for mine and he's even agreed to be my Beta Reader. This is my take on his story, kind of an AU or Fanfiction of a Fanfiction. But from the next chapter on it will be all me.**

 **Next chapter will be out shortly after this is out with any luck. After that I don't know when the next chapter will be.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, back again with the first original chapter from yours truly. A big shout out to** **FleetingInterest** **for having been a big help with this story as my beta reader. Go over to his profile and check out his stories. I would like to thank you all for the support you've shown so far.**

 **Reply to Reviews:  
Bankai777: "Would Kushina approve of Ino?" I think she would... many fans of Sakura seem to think that she'd be the closest match... but I disagree. Ino may be brash and have a mean streak like Sakura, but she also has the same compassion and no-nonsense attitude we've seen from Kushina in the few scenes Kishimoto gives us. In my opinion Sakura is too quick to resort to violence and Hinata is a shy wallflower... I could see Ino and Kushina becoming fast friends. **

**Guest: "this should be canon! In my opinion Naruto would fit with Ino just fine. He needs a strong, independent woman who knows what she wants and can have an argument with him instead od meek, submissive fan girl who agrees to every word he says. I also agree with what Ino said about Hinata's feelings... but because Kishimoto can't write romance, we ended up with this bullshit. Loving this so far." Thank you for your support and kind words. Hope you enjoy where I go with the story.**

 **Honker11: "I like your story even though many support the Narusaku and the Naruhina for me it would have been great for me that Naruto and Ino will be together put the next chapter please and if you can also put Lemon yes." I do not know if I will be including lemons… I'm still a new writer and not confident in my ability to write something like that just yet. I'm not saying no to it, but I'm not saying yes yet either.**

 **Onwards to the story!**

 **Normal text – "Naruto"**

 **Thought text – '** _ **Ino**_ **'**

 **Jutsu/Bloodline –** _ **Rasengan**_

 _ **The Hero and The Florist**_

 _ **Chapter 2**_

 **[Naruto PoV]**

Naruto had spent the better part of two hours figuring out his plan to confront Hinata, and if be, how to let her down without hurting her too much. He knew that if what Ino said was true, that she'd be devastated when he turned her down.

' _Just the thought of hurting her makes me hope she's genuine about her feelings. Hell, I'm more scared of what Kiba, Neji, or even her father will do to me if I do hurt her.'_ he shudders at the thought. _'she's also very close with Kurenai-sensei, and I fear what kind of_ **Genjutsu** _she'd put me in if or when she finds out I hurt Hinata… man am I up shit creek without a paddle if this doesn't go well…'_

He looks out his window and lets out a deep sigh. _'well, can't let "what if's" get in the way of doing this… Hinata deserves an answer no matter what, and the best way to do that is to be honest,'_ he says to himself as he gets up and grabs Hinata's flowers, which were put in a vase of water to keep them healthy while he worked things out in his head. "Well, time to go find Hinata and see where this goes."

An hour later after wandering around what remains of the village, he notices that there were a lot of buildings already up. "Huh… Captain Yamato must be working hard with his _**Wood Style**_ to help with the rebuild. Poor guy must be exhausted if the amount of buildings is any to go by."

Finally, after another half hour of searching and asking for directions, he arrived at the Hyuga assembly hall, where one of the branch members stopped him. "Halt! what business do you have here? Even if you are considered 'The Hero of the Leaf' now, you cannot just come here without a good reason!"

' _geez… I understand being vigilant, but would it hurt them to be polite…?'_ He mentally shrugged before deciding to take the polite and formal request approach."I wish to speak with Lady Hinata about a private matter between her and myself. Do you know where I could find her?"

The guard was shocked that the kid known for being a prankster as well for infuriating beings in authority addressed the clan heiress in a proper and formal fashion. He didn't know what this "private matter" was between the two of them, but it's no secret to anyone that Hinata had a lifelong crush on the Jinchuriki in front of him. "Step inside and I'll go fetch her. Do not wander or enter any other buildings or tents."

Naruto just nodded and did so, deciding to sit down on one of the many chairs in the room while waiting for her to show up, feeling slightly nervous as to which way this was going to go.

After about five long minutes, which felt like an eternity to the blonde hero, the doors slid open, revealing Hinata still in her ninja gear, but cleaned up after the battle with Pain, blushing brightly seeing the object of her affections. Little did Naruto know that she'd been blushing since being told that he was there to see her.

"H-hello, N-N-Naruto. What is it that y-you wished to s-see me about…?"

Naruto mentally sighed at her shuddering _'there's another thing. She really needs to have more confidence in herself, like she did when she stood up to Pain for me.'_ "Hey Hinata, I came by to thank you for your help earlier today, that was very brave of you. Here I got you these flowers as a gift." He said as he removed the flowers and vase from beside the chair he was sitting at.

Hinata went wide-eyed at the thought of Naruto giving her flowers for anything, was ready to faint on the spot before willing herself to stay conscious and accepted them with a meek 'thank you.'

Naruto rubbed the back of his head, bracing himself for what was to come, he knows that what he's gonna say to her will hurt and/or disappoint her while giving her some false hope. "Hey Hinata, why don't you sit down? I need to talk to you about you as well."

At this point Hinata looked confused and concerned but acquiesced to his request, nodding signifying for him to go on.

"I came by to thank you but also to talk to you about your confession during the fight with Pain earlier today." He paused, trying to figure out how to word it properly without hurting her too much. This pause seemed to have Hinata even more concerned, she was extremely nervous and anxious to hear his response. "While I'm touched beyond words, and grateful for caring for me so much, I'm afraid that I'm just not ready to date anyone right now. I'm very sorry." He finished in a sitting bow to emphasize his apology.

Poor Hinata didn't know what to say or do… Here was her lifelong crush, having given her flowers as a thank you gift for saving him, but was politely turning her down saying he's not ready to date anyone at this time. While other girls would see this as a "I might have a chance once he's ready," this was disheartening and discouraging. It took her so long to confess to him and it took him almost being killed for her to do so while putting her own life on the line.

However, she did appreciate Naruto's honesty and swiftness, so she wouldn't be worried about it in the future. He came to her, gave his response and didn't avoid her, whether it would have been purposely or not, unlike what other guys may have done.

Naruto by this point was worried he had hurt her to the point of shock, rendering her unable to talk. He dared not raise his head till he got a response in kind, continuing to show his respect to the Hyuga Heiress. Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long.

"N-Naruto, please raise your head," she started in a sad, low tone as the blonde did so. "T-thank you for your honesty… While I-I am a-admittedly…discouraged, I-I cannot imagine t-the courage it took to t-tell m-me this. I-I hope w-we will remain f-friends in future." She finished with a seated bow of her own, now trying to hide the welling tears in her eyes. She couldn't cry in front of him now…

"Don't worry. We'll always be friends. Thank you for being understanding… I'm sorry if I've hurt you." He said, bowing once more. All Hinata could do was nod her head, still hiding her face from him. At this time, Naruto took this as his cue to leave and headed towards the door stopping to let her know he was leaving. "I'll see ya around Hinata. And once again, I'm sorry." And with that, he was gone, not knowing that as he left, she broke down and started crying.

' _Man, that was harder to do than expected… but I couldn't question her about why she loved me. That would have hurt her more than just turning her down. I think I'll head to Ichiraku's and see if I can talk to Ayame about this, not that I can change it now.'_ He thought to himself, feeling bad about hurting and probably destroying what little confidence Hinata had by turning her down. He could tell she was on the verge of tears, but he doubted that there was anything he could have done to ease her pain.

20 minutes later, Naruto arrived at his home away from home. The smell of ramen filled his nostrils and while that would have normally gotten him excited, he was still upset about hurting Hinata, and still confused as to what to do now. If he was honest with himself, he still really liked Sakura, but there was Ino. She had practically asked him out on a date, or that's what he took it as.

As he walked in, Teuchi and Ayame smiled. "Naruto, my boy! How are you today? You want the usual?" The older Ichiraku greeted his surrogate son before noticing his sullen mood.

Ayame noticed immediately, noticing it was serious because he didn't have his usual grin that he even keeps whenever Sakura had turned him down again, and proceeded to find out what had caused her brother figure to look so down. "Are you ok? What happened?"

Naruto gave her a sad smile. "Well I'm not sure if you know this or not, but Hinata risked her life during the Pain Battle to save my life and confessed that she loved me. Which you would think was a good thing… but in truth… I'm very confused." He started as Teuchi prepared his usual order as he proceeded to retell the events that have happened in the last twenty-four hours, leaving both Teuchi and Ayame in awe and shocked.

"Wow. Ino practically asked you out, gave you a special flower, and gave you some decent advice, but you talked to Hinata and turned her down saying you weren't ready to date anyone yet not wanting to hurt her too much. My, you've been busy today…" Ayame gave a sly, teasing grin.

"Yeah… and to top it off, while I know Sakura won't stop loving Sasuke, I can't let go or give up just yet, but then there is Ino, who, as I said, was my first real crush. I just don't know what to do." He groaned and rested his elbows on the counter and had his head in his palms, showing his frustration.

"Well, if I can offer you advice, get to know Ino, hang out with her when you have the free time. Who knows, maybe she'll be the one to get Sakura off your mind. Who knows, something special might come of it."

Naruto just nodded and proceeded to eat his food, thinking on his surrogate big sister's advice. He had already planned to talk to Ino again tomorrow to see if she wanted to just hang out, figuring she'll probably hear about what happened between him and Hinata before morning. So, he finished his food, but as he went to pay his bill when they told him it was on the house for defeating Pain. He shrugged at this and accepted their offer and proceeded to head home, take care of Ino's gift and go to sleep since it had been a long and exhausting day, emotionally and physically.

 **[Ino's PoV]**

While Naruto had arrived at Ichiraku's, Ino arrived at the girls' usual hang out spot where she spotted the usual crowd: Sakura, Tenten, and Anko. Yes, the crazy Snake Mistress decided to hang out with younger girls of the village. Surprisingly Kurenai-sensei and Hinata were there at the table, the former seemingly consoling the latter.

' _huh, did Naruto already talk with her? If so I'm gonna say it didn't go well for her.'_

It was then that Sakura noticed Ino, "Hey Ino-Pig!" A small tick mark appeared on Ino's forehead and shot back her usual nickname for her friend and rival. "Hello, Billboard Brow, how are you tonight?"

"Exhausted if I'm to be honest, as well as worried about Lady Tsunade. She hasn't woken up since the end of Pain's attack. She used too much chakra using Katsuya to heal the wounded." Sakura said in a concerned tone.

"Is it just Chakra Exhaustion? Any idea when she'll wake up? Does Naruto know?" Ino's mind now completely off Hinata's depressed state for the moment as she fired of a list of questions, knowing how close both Sakura and Naruto were to the fifth Hokage.

"No, Shizune is working around the clock, doing everything she can to help… but we have no idea when…or if she'll wake up… Everytime she uses _**Ninja Art: Mitotic Regeneration**_ , it comes with a price of shortening one's lifespan… So, we can only hold out hope that she'll recover. As for Naruto, no I doubt he knows yet. If he did, that knucklehead would rush over to where she's being kept and loudly ask two of the same questions you did." The pinkette let a small laugh out at that.

"Yeah, knowing him, that's exactly what he'd do." The florist joined in the laugh, only to blush ever-so-slightly with a content smile and faraway look in her eyes as she thought of her fellow blonde.

This was picked up by Anko, who decided to take this chance to speak up with a teasing grin and tone. "Oh? What's this? Does someone have a crush on The Hero of the Leaf?"

That snapped Ino out of her thoughts, only to deepen her blush at being caught daydreaming about him, even momentarily. "W-what? No, come on! We all know Naruto will always love Billboard Brow here! _Even if he confessed I was his first crush earlier today…_ " She shouted out, only to think the last part to herself.

The Weapons Mistress spoke at this time. "That's for sure, but maybe not. Hinata came here with Kurenai-sensei mumbling about Naruto turning down her confession earlier. Something about not being ready to date? I dunno, I couldn't hear her very well… but she definitely looks like her world came crashing down around her." Pointing to the Hyuga Heiress while looking concerned for her teammates cousin.

"What?! Hinata risked her life to finally confess to him and he has the nerve to turn her down?!" This pissed of Tsunade's apprentice to no end. The shy girl that has always had a crush on him, putting her life in danger to not only save him but confess after how many years, and he turns her down?! Because he's not ready to date anyone?! Then why the hell was he asking her out every chance he got?!

Ino looked over at Hinata, a mix of concern and sympathy for her that he turned her down and did it without following her advice of questioning her reasons. However, she thought it'd be best to change the subject and tell her friends what happened at her family's shop today.

"Speaking of our hero, you'll never guess who showed up at our shop today, with a plant no less."

"Wait, Naruto gardens?" questioned every girl/woman of the group, including the depressed Hyuga and her Sensei/surrogate big sister.

"Yeah, it was a shock to me too… but apparently, I was the one who gave him the suggestion of taking care of plants when we were kids…"

This took them even more by surprise, however the now interested lavender-haired kunoichi, decided to speak up. "W-what do you mean Ino…?" looking at the female blonde with some suspicion, asking the question that everyone was thinking.

Ino looked at them, feeling a bit embarrassed by the story she was gonna tell, and intimidated by the way Hinata was looking at her, but told them the story of how she met Naruto, and he said that she was her first friend, purposely leaving out Naruto's confession in the company of the heartbroken Hyuga.

Afterwards Sakura looked confused. "Wait, if you were his first friend, then why didn't you hang out with him after that? Why did you treat him almost as bad as I have?"

"Oh, shut up Sakura! At least I didn't hit him all the time! I'm surprised he continues to chase after you after the abuse you've put him through!" She yelled furiously at her best friend before calming down and put her head down in self-disappointment. "And I wanted to, but… after that I started hearing what we all heard about him. 'stay away from that boy, he's bad news, he's a troublemaker,' yatta yatta yatta. So, painfully, I decided to listen to the hearsay like the good little girl I was, listened to my parents and wanted to remain popular… but since he told me that today, I've regretted that childish and selfish decision…"

The pinkette was taken aback, by both her reasoning and her defending Naruto by snapping at her, while all but Hinata looked at her with shock. The Hyuga Heiress didn't know what to think. On one hand she was furious that her lifelong crush could have had a friend all this time, but on the other hand, if the Yamanaka Heiress had chosen to continue to be his friend and not go with the flow, Naruto might have been crushing on her instead of Sakura, only Ino might have returned his affections. She didn't know how close to the truth she was with that analysis.

Recovering from her shock, Anko stepped up, seething at the blonde in front of her, having some sympathy for the young Jinchuriki, having lived the life of an outcast due to her own past. "So, you didn't listen to your own desires, and listened to, and treated him like everyone else…? Just to remain popular?"

"I said I regret that decision alright!?" Ino replied in tears, clearly showing her remorse. Meanwhile Kurenai was ready to hold back her friend, knowing how quickly she can get volatile, especially when it came to the topic of outcasts and mistreatment of others.

However, this wasn't needed, the interrogator, as well as everyone else, could hear and see the young Yamanaka's sincerity and remorse. Surprisingly it was Hinata that gave her a comforting hug, which surprised everyone, mostly Ino. ' _is Hinata comforting me, even knowing I could have been a rival for Naruto's affections?'_

"Ino, as long as you truly mean what you said, you should try to patch things up with him, get to know the real Naruto." The Hyuga said surprisingly without her stutter, before it returned as she continued. "A-and if t-things go w-well, y-you should f-follow wherever t-that leads… I – I don't think I can p-p-pursue him anymore since h-he rejected m-me…" she finished that last part just above a whisper but could still be heard by everyone around her.

Everyone looked on at their poor broken-hearted friend, seeing that his polite rejection shot her confidence to hell. Kurenai was silently planning to pay the boy a visit and have a word with him, maybe teach him a lesson for hurting her student and surrogate little sister. However, it was Sakura that stepped up this time. "Come on Hinata, he didn't outright reject you, right? He just said that he wasn't ready yet. Don't give up hope."

Everyone but Ino and Anko nodded in agreement, Anko because she had a suspicion that Naruto's affections may have shifted from Sakura to a certain blonde if said blonde's story and behavior was any indicator, while Ino was floored, not having heard Sakura's words of encouragement.

' _wait a minute, did…she just give me permission to pursue the man she's been crushing on since the academy? Wow… Naruto, if you learn about how badly your polite rejection has hurt her, you're gonna feel worse than scum.'_ She thought, knowing how he'd react to this news. _'still, I was planning on doing as she suggested anyhow if he had turned her down. Sakura, just you wait till I tell you that I was Naruto's first crush.'_

After socializing and having a few cups of tea, alcohol in Anko's case, they all decided to call it a night and head back to home.

"Ino wait up! I'll walk with you. My place is in the same direction as yours." Sakura ran up to her.

"Sure Sakura, I still wanted to tell you something anyhow now that we're alone."

"Ok…? Sure. What is it?" the pinkette looked at her friend curiously.

"oh…just that I managed to beat you at something before our rivalry over Sasuke started…" she trailed off with a sly grin on her face, knowing how she'd react.

"What?! What do you mean you beat me at something?!"

The young florist couldn't wait to see her expression. "Just that, not only did I give my first kiss before you did, but it was to Naruto, who said I was his first real crush."

Sakura froze in place, completely flabbergasted, Naruto told her that she was his first crush? Would that have meant that not only would she have retained her friendship with Ino, but she might have lost out on her constant source of encouragement from her blonde teammate? The young medic started to picture Ino in her place, only seeing her accepting Naruto's request to go out for dates. She didn't even know how to respond to that, only started walking again, only this time on auto-pilot.

Ino sees this and mentally cheers for that reaction and for being able to silence the girl known as the Banshee for how loud her shouts were… even if they were toned down a fair bit from when they were younger. However, she decided to be the good friend. "Sakura, you alright?"

Sakura didn't reply, still being lost in thought at the revelation her friend had brought forward. While Ino continued to internally cheer while hoping to see Naruto tomorrow, not knowing the chaos that was to ensue in the near future.

 **AN: Well that's it for Chapter 2 of The Hero and The Florist. I apologize for the quick dismissal of Hinata's feelings, but I felt it best not to string her along. Originally, I did plan on having Naruto let her down in such a way that would have been mean to poor Hinata and likely have caused the NaruHina community to hate me even more than they already might but decided against it. Please leave a review. If you're gonna leave negative comments, please make it at least constructive criticism as I will ignore blatant flaming. Hit the follow and favorite if you enjoyed it. See you again soon I hope. Reviews might motivate me to write sooner.**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Thank you for the amazing support you have shown me thus far. I am deeply moved that not only** **have** **I gotten so much support, but** **also for** **the positive reviews and suggestions that I've been getting. I would like to apologize for taking so long to get this out. I stream my gameplay of** **RPGs** **and kinda got sucked into a game called Ys VIII: Lacrimosa of DANA, and starting Wednesday, September 4** **th** **, I will be streaming Dragon Quest XI. If you are interested in watching my gameplay pm me and I'll give you the link to my twitch channel.**

 **Shameless personal advertising aside, I would like to thank** **Fleeting Interest** **for being my Beta Reader and DownAnder for offering private reviews and** **suggestions** **via PM. Now** **onto** **the review responses!**

 **Narutouchimaki: "I like how you're pacing the story so far. It's very well written and everything is going at a nice easy pace. I have a question though, when will Naruto ask Hinata about her feelings, cuz I feel like him putting it off for a long time is not exactly a Narutoish thing to do." We have discussed this in private. I hope you enjoy this chapter and that I can keep up with the current pacing.**

 **Satoru Ryoma: Chapter 1 "Well for a first timer this story is really good. I loved what you did with character dynamics, especially NaruIno. Their first meeting, Ino's peer pressure afterwards, their inner voices. But the one thing I loved the most was that you didn't make naruto unbelievably dense but he still stayed in character when he is thinking things himself." Thank you very much as I said in the first chapter a good portion of this chapter was borrowed/taken from Fleeting's story "**

 **I could almost fall for him"** , **if you haven't check out his story yet, please do.**

 **Chapter 2: "I get that some people might get angry, especially sakura since its her thing about naruto. But neji or kurenai have no right to do something like that and confront him. Naruto didn't treat her like shit or did something bad. I hope if you go down that road naruto won't take their shit and tell them he tried to let her down gently." As I said in PM: Oh, don't worry. Neji will be indifferent about it so he won't even confront Naruto about it... well, She's gonna be more worried and upset about Ino beating her at something as big Naruto's first crush.. cause if you think about it... while he was annoying about asking her out constantly, it did prove to** **be** **a source of confidence after the Brooding Emo King kept shooting her down. As for Kurenai.. She will be having a talk with Naruto regardless of how easy he let her down. We all know how protective she is over Hinata so she'll do it out of concern and to get Naruto's take on it, since she is also fair.**

 **bankai777: "What would Mito say to Ino?" In all honesty I don't see what Mito Uzumaki would have to do with Naruto and Ino's relationship. Not once have I noticed her talking to Naruto at all. So to answer** **your** **question, I don't know what she'd say, to either one of them.**

 **Startailsbomber: "Really like how its going so far.**

 **Hope you keep updating and don't stop uploading out of nowhere" Don't worry I will try update at least once a week.**

 **xQueen-Of-Applesx: "While I'm not a NaruIno shipper although I do like the or fan arts this story js actually coming to a great start also this is Levy from the Juvia page! :D" Thank you Levy for the support, Hope I can count on your continued support**

 **: "I am a NaruSaku fan but I do love me some NaruIno and NaruSakuIno. Looking forward to more :)" Hope that I don't let you down!**

 **Guest:" lol really girls, just because she loves him doesn't mean he must love her back. It takes two to tango you know. Nice chapter! Of course Ino/Sakura rivalry must continue ;)" Thanks for the review and you're exactly right. In all reality, Kurenai is the only one with the right to be upset with Naruto given her relationship with Hinata and how protective she is of the heiress.**

 **Surayo: "like taking out a band-aid, fast and painful so you can forget it faster, good job on moving from Hinata, hope you can update soon." While that wasn't as painful as I had planned it at first, I could see it hurting Hinata, but not enough that she won't recover over time.**

 **Antex-The Legendary Zoroark: Chapter 1 "So far, I'm liking the start of this!" Thank you very much!**

 **Chapter 2: "Good chapter. I'm glad that when you wrote down Naruto talking to Hinata, he didn't reject her THAT badly (even though she still took it pretty hard). But yea. I'm sure she'll get over it soon. Besides, Ino could've been right. Maybe Hinata more idolized Naruto than actually loved him. There's a general difference between the two after all.**

 **I digress though. I hope to see some Naruto and Ino moments in the future! I just hope Hinata won't interfere and get jealous of the pair." As I stated in the PM: I had** **originally** **made Naruto put Hinata down much harder... but beta reader had pointed out that it was harsh and a punch to the gut and honestly and admittedly destroyed Hinata... but as far as Hinata getting jealous and interfering... I am not certain yet.**

 **However, do count on some fluff between Naruto and Ino with maybe Kurenai giving Naruto a stern talking to, to get his side of things and letting him know that she is not Happy that he hurt Hinata.**

 **Guest 2: "Wow. Based on the changes you did to Fleeting's original story in Chapter 1 (by making it more focused on NaruIno), I expected a more painful confrontation with Hinata in Chap 2.**

 **As mentioned by you in the AN, what made you decide to approach that scene differently?" You'd be right that was gonna be painful… but I had made it too painful… so much so, that Fleeting said that felt like a punch to the gut and would have destroyed Hinata completely, rather than just cause her to be depressed for awhile and temporarily lose confidence in herself. So, I decided to be nice to Hinata so to lessen the backlash from Hinata fans. That and do you really see Naruto being that hurtful to someone he owes his life to?**

 **If it would please you guys I can post the original Chapter 2 if you wish to see how it would have gone. Let me know in the reviews.**

 **Onward to the story!**

 **Normal text – "Naruto"**

 **Thought text – '** _ **Ino**_ **'**

 **Jutsu/Bloodline –** _ **Rasengan**_

 _ **The Hero and The Florist**_

 **Chapter 3**

 **[Naruto PoV]**

The next morning after Naruto got back from Ichiraku's and the girls had their girls' night out, we find Naruto in his sleepwear, still half a sleep, watering Ino's gift while waiting for his morning cup ramen to cook with a sleepy smile on his face. _'I can't wait to talk to Ino, I need to tell_ _her_ _about Hinata, if she doesn't know already.'_

Then, suddenly, there was knock at the door surprising the blonde. "I never get company unless it's Sakura or Kakashi Sensei for a mission, but it's too early even for them to come knocking…"

When he opened his door, he was greeted by a less-than-pleased Kurenai Yuhi, Hinata's sensei. _'Oh shit…'_ He thought before greeting her nervously "Uh…Good Morning Kurenai Sensei. How are you this morning? _Please don't use a_ **Genjutsu** _on me…_ " thinking the last part to himself, having a healthy dose of fear for the Genjutsu Mistress.

The ruby eyed Jonin semi-glares at Naruto and speaks in a stern tone that outlined her not being in the mood to beat around the bush. "Morning, Naruto… Might I come in? I believe we need to have a chat."

The Jinchuriki caught onto the tone, sighed, nodded and opened the door, "Yes Ma'am, please allow me to change first, make yourself at home."

"Make it quick."

Naruto couldn't move faster and after a mere minute of changing into casual clothing and made his way to his living room as he passed by his now soggy ramen. _'aww damn it! It's gonna be one of those days. Maybe I should hold off on going to see Ino today…'_ he internally groaned as he sat down across from the Raven-Haired Jonin, and prepared for a tongue lashing.

"Now, I am not going to beat around the bush Naruto, I'm sure you know why I am here. Correct?" She asked sternly.

"I assume that it's because I turned down Hinata's confession since I am not ready to date anyone at this time. I've even given up on chasing Sakura after realizing she'll always love Sasuke." Naruto said solemnly. "And given that you're here, I must have hurt Hinata, despite my best effort to let her down gently." He said solemnly.

"Yes, she asked me to meet her at the spot Ino and the girls regularly meet at for their girls' night, she was visibly depressed and looked like she had been crying and continued to cry at the bar."

Naruto frowned at that… he hurt Hinata, caused her to cry and call upon her closest ally.

"I'm sorry I hurt Hinata… I never wanted to do that to her, despite my turning her down, I still owe her my life." He stated barely above a whisper, showing his regret and grief for hurting her.

Kurenai saw this and internally smiled. _'at least he regrets hurting her, I'd have to place him under a nasty_ **Genjutsu** _if he didn't. Then again, he wouldn't be Naruto if he didn't regret hurting her, at least according to what Kakashi and Hinata have told me about him. However, there is more to this than he's letting on if Ino's outburst from last night is anything to judge by.'_ "Regardless, I think you should keep away from her for awhile. She's in a very delicate state right now… However, I'd like to hear your side of the story." Keeping her stern exterior.

The blonde nodded and took a deep breath. "I was gonna give Hinata a chance… figured I owed her that much, but a friend mentioned something that I thought hard about, and agreed that was a chance with… that Hinata's affections for me were misplaced under the guise of Idolism… but I couldn't question her about her feelings, I know that would have hurt her a lot more than just saying that I'm not ready to date.. and, I'm not. The realization that Sakura will never return my feelings has hit me harder than I expected." He said leaving out the fact that he'd been thinking about Ino since their chat at the flower shop.

Kurenai narrowed her eyes at the mention of the "friend". _'Could it have been Ino? She was defending him all night and was visibly_ _regretting_ _her decision to go with the flow. It has to have been her.'_ She thought and decided to question Naruto. "Naruto, I want you to be honest with me right now, this friend… was it Ino? She and the rest of the group showed up last night and told us whatever happened," she started, taking notice of Naruto going stiff at the thought Ino told the girls EVERYTHING that happened, but continued to verify what was said. "That she gave you your inspiration for taking care of plants, her being your first friend before she decided to cave to the peer pressure and listen to her elders to stay away from you because of your burden…"

Naruto nodded at this, while extremely relieved the blonde florist didn't mention her asking him out for Ramen, or his confession that she was his first crush/love. But he had suspected that was why she avoided him and pretended not to know him. That didn't mean it hurt any less.

Kurenai again seeing him slouch more and dropped her stern persona. "If it's any consolation, she was the first to defend you when Sakura learned and was furious that you turned down a girl's confession who risked her life to save you. She even said she regretted her choice to be pulled into the mainstream after Anko got on her about her discarding you for popularity. So much so that she was in tears, with visible remorse on her face and in her voice."

"Ino…said that…?" He said, unable to hide the whimsical smile hearing she regretted her choice so much.

"…Yes, she did. Now please answer my question." The Jonin said firmly, having caught the look on his face. There was something more to Naruto and Ino than what was being lead to believe.

"Right, sorry." He said rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment, then regretfully continued. _'Sorry Ino, I hope she doesn't come talking to you when she's done with me.'_ "Yes, Ino was the one to question Hinata's true feelings for me. She just didn't want to see me get hurt. I suspect that is because of what you said, that she is feeling horrible about how she treated me. So please, do what you want to me, but leave her out of this." He finished, falling into a full bow, fully displaying that was clearly begging right now.

Kurenai was stunned at this… _'there is_ _definitely_ _something more going on between those two, but for now I'll drop it.'_ "Very well Naruto, however, be warned that if you're lying to me and you declined Hinata because you desire someone else, I will not be this forgiving next time" She narrowed her eyes and glared at him, looking him dead in the eye, leaking some killer intent to further her threat/warning. "Next time, I'll make you think that horrendous _**Sexy Jutsu**_ of yours is the real you."

Naruto's went white as a ghost, nodding as if to say he understood faster than the Fourth's _**Flying Raijin Jutsu**_ ,knowing full well that she could, and would do it.

"Good, then we are done here." The ruby-eyed Jonin said as she got up. "Thank you for your time, and I'm sorry I interrupted your breakfast." She said as she left his place and went home.

Naruto slumped against the chair he had been sitting in, letting out a revealed breath that she had left. "Man, note to self, do not to piss Kurenai Sensei off. Still, I'm glad Ino didn't tell them about her offer to take me out for ramen, or my confession, or that she was the one to plant the seed of doubt in my head. Not that she ever would… especially not in front of Hinata and her sensei/surrogate sister."

A couple of minutes later he made himself another cup of ramen, then decided he'd pay Ino a visit after he ate and got freshened up.

 **[Ino's PoV]**

While Naruto was being talked to by Kurenai Yuhi, Ino had been up for a few hours already and very unhappy "Damn it! Why did my dad wake me up at the crack of dawn!? Doesn't he realize I need my beauty sleep!?"

She then sighs and looks at the plant that Naruto left with her and smiled at the thought of the blonde knucklehead while starting to take care of it, silently hoping to see him today.

"Still can't believe Hinata of all people comforted me after my breakdown last night… not to mention her practically giving me permission to pursue her life long crush." She mused. "From what the girls said… he let her down easy, which I'm glad he didn't listen to me, but what concerns me is how he let her down, saying he's not ready to date… I hope that's not true."

But as quickly as the worry came, it was gone. "Naruto wouldn't have confessed to me if he wasn't somewhat ready. I'll just have to be patient…"

It was then that she heard the door chime and made her way to the front of the store.

 **[Normal PoV]**

The person who had arrived was none of other then the blonde knucklehead that's been plaguing her mind. When they're eyes met, they gave each other big smiles, Naruto giving her his famous megawatt smile and Ino doing her best impression of it.

"Hey Ino! How are you this morning?" he asked with a very faint blush on his grinning face.

"Dad got me up early this morning for some reason, but I am good now." She said with her own blush.

"that sucks… but glad you're good now though." He said then dropped his smile a little. "So… you know that I turned down Hinata right?"

Ino nodded

"Well, Kurenai Sensei paid me a visit this morning… confronting me about hurting Hinata. But she let me off with a warning after I talked to her."

Ino was shocked that Kurenai was that worried about Hinata that she'd pay Naruto a visit to confront him, and so early considering that she was very pregnant. "That was nice of her to let you off with warning considering you let Hinata down so easily. I'm proud of you and glad you didn't listen to me. I can't imagine how she would have been if you questioned her."

"…Yeah, I couldn't do that to her. I do still owe her my life after all." At this Ino nodded.

"Kurenai Sensei also told me you stood up for me last night against Sakura, thank you…" he said quietly, blushing deeply now while contemplating asking Ino about her regretting her choice in the past.

"…it was the least I could do Naruto, I'm so tired of Billboard Brow treating you so badly." She said just as quickly, having her own blush, only it being lighter.

"Hey, Naruto, I need to apologize. I've treated you so badly, and ignored my own desires and listened to everyone else… I should have been there for you, remained your friend. I'm so sorry." She finished with a bow.

With a small smile, the Jinchuriki put a hand on her shoulder, causing her to raise up, and look into his eyes completely shocked to see no resentment in those gorgeous ocean blue eyes. "Ino, don't worry about it… it's more than enough to know and see that you regret your choice."

"Naruto…"

"Hey, it's ok really. I never hated you… I wouldn't have said what I did yesterday if I did." He said sincerely, completely shocking Ino.

"Thank you so much…Naruto" she said as she pulled him into a hug with tears of relief in her eyes.

This stunned the young hero slightly but quickly returned the hug, blushing brightly while trying to ignore the feeling of her breasts against him _'Calm down Naruto, it's just a hug, no underlying purpose other than a hug.'_ He thought to himself, trying to calm himself down.

"You're welcome…" he said softly.

Unbeknownst to them, Inoichi was just in the next room, having come down hearing Naruto come in and watched the entire scene. _'Just look at those two, had we not stopped her from being friends with him, I'd be willing to bet this shop that they would have been a couple a long time ago. I was such a fool.'_

"Hey, Let's go cash in that raincheck? It's almost lunchtime." Naruto asked.

"I can't Naruto, I need to watch the shop." She frowned, really wanting to take him up on the idea, not noticing they were still embracing.

Inoichi decided to make his presence known, taking notice of their embrace and decided to tease them "Go ahead Ino, I can watch the storefront while you go have lunch with your boyfriend."

"DAD!" she exclaimed as they quickly leap out of their embrace, giving Hinata a run for her money in terms of deep blushes, silently liking the idea of being a couple _'Oh god, how long has he been there….? I'm so not going to hear the end of this.'_ Ino lamented "He's not my boyfriend! _Not yet anyhow…'_ ' she thought the last part to herself

Naruto was embarrassed _'Her dad caught us hugging like that, why isn't he pissed off? And he's actually encouraging her going out for lunch with me? Boyfriend? Does he approve of me being with her?'_ millions of thoughts going through his mind.

Inoichi inwardly chuckled seeing them so embarrassed. "Just go you two, just be back in a couple hours ok?"

"Alright fine, come on Naruto." The young heiress said as she grabbed the stunned hero by the wrist and dragged him out of the shop toward Ichiraku's.

' _Ahh young love. I know you better treat her well boy.'_ The Yamanaka Clan Head chuckled.

A block away, Naruto found his bearings and started walking next to the fuming girl who had been plaguing his thoughts the last twenty-four hours but decided to remain quiet, knowing her temper was almost on pair with Sakura's, silently fearing getting pummeled.

Two blocks later Ino calms down. "I'm sorry for dragging you like that, I just had to get out of there. He's so insufferable. Sometimes I wish I could get my own place!"

"Hey it's ok. I could tell he meant well." Then saddened "I've never had parents to love me or tease me about anything, they died the night the Nine-tails attacked the village…." He said quietly, not mentioning that he was the son of the fourth hokage, which he only learned yesterday while he was close to losing himself to the demon fox.

"Naruto…" She felt so bad for him, never knowing a mother's love, a father's encouragement, or the life lessons they would have passed on.

"Enough about that, we're almost there!" He put on a brave face, but Ino knew it was a sensitive subject for him, having lost the Third Hokage and his mentor Jiraiya of the Sannin, two of his role models…

At the ramen shop, Naruto greeted Ayame, who was behind the counter serving costumers. "Hey Ayame! The usual please!"

"Hey there Naruto, coming right up!" the female ramen chef responded before taking notice of Naruto's company, giving a sly grin. "And who's your girlfriend?"

Ino blushed at this, seeing the obvious closeness between Naruto and Ayame. "Aww come on Ayame! Not you too! We just got through being teased by her father!" Naruto said without thinking, then realized what he said and blushed even more, Ino following suit.

"Oh ho… already have Daddy's blessing eh? You sly devil you…" His big sister figure teased.

"S-shut up!" The male blonde sat down, blushing up a storm, shooting his fellow blonde an apologetic look.

"I-I'm Ino Yamanaka, nice to meet you Ayame." Ino introduced herself while sitting down with a full body blush from the teasing and Naruto's lack of a filter.

"Ahh so you're the famous Ino that I heard so much about yesterday. Nice to meet you. What can I get you?" Ayame said deciding to stop the teasing before they passed out from overheating.

"A standard Miso Ramen please…"

Naruto meanwhile was still following Ino's example with the full body blush, burying his head in his hands.

A few minutes later Ayame came out with their food. "Here you go, enjoy!"

"Thanks, Ayame! This looks great!" Naruto nearly shouted in excitement. His blush completely faded.

"Yes, thank you very much." Ino said calmly.

Ayame leaned over the counter just enough to whisper in her surrogate brother's ear "Don't screw this up now Naruto…" remembering what he told her last night about the date offer, grinning as she pulled away seeing him choke on his ramen with his blush returning with a vengeance.

Ino quickly came to his rescue and rubbed his back to help with the choking, noticing the massive blush that came back to her fellow blonde's face. _'what did she say to him to make him blush like that…'_ she thought curiously, but not jealous, able to see the brother/sister relationship they shared. "You ok Naruto?"

"Y-yeah I'm good, thanks Ino…" He said with a smile, fighting to bring down his blush. Ino too blushed as she saw Ayame's knowing grin.

"Well, I'll leave you two alone to enjoy your date… just gimme a shout if you need anything." The young ramen chief teased making her quick exit before Naruto could blow up on her.

' _Date…? She thinks this is a date…? I-I mean I guess it could be seen as one… but… we're just friends right now, right…?'_ Ino asked herself while doing her best impression of Hinata's blush at the moment.

' _Damn Ayame, she had to mention that didn't she?'_ Naruto internally cursed, fearing what Ino was thinking.

From that point on, the two ate in awkward silence, refusing to meet each other's gaze. However, when they finished their meal, and Ino kept her word and paid for the outing, it was the young heiress that decided to break the tension. "I had fun Naruto, thank you for getting me away from the shop for awhile."

"I had fun too despite the teasing today. I should be thanking you for paying, next time it'll be my treat!" He smiles before offering to walk her back to the shop to which Ino accepted. The two walked in a comfortable silence, not noticing that they both involuntarily intertwined their fingers while holding hands.

 **AN: That's it for this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it. Sorry** **for** **the sudden stop to the chapter but thought** **it was ok to** **end** **with** **their first unofficial date. I hope you liked the fluff and the Kurenai confrontation. Next chapter we'll have Naruto learn about Tsunade being in a coma due to chakra exhaustion and using her seal to heal the village, and have Sakura confront Naruto about what Ino said to her and possibly have Samui and her team from the Cloud come** **to** **the village with the Raikage's message. See ya next week hopefully.**


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Thank you all for your amazing support, we are at 95 followers, 69 favorites, 2,583 views and 19 reviews as of right now. I apologize for the delay with this chapter. This week has been crazy. My days off from streaming were filled with real life situations that kept me from the computer. I am surprised that no one has asked for the original chapter 2 to be posted. I guess you guys like it how it turned out, but the offer is still on the table for a while. As usual I'd like to thank** **Fleeting Interest** **for being my Beta Reader and** **Down Ander** **for his private reviews and suggestions. Also a big thank you to** **Namikaze7777** **for Checking out my story after I read his, kind of a read for read kind of deal. So please go check out his story, Naruto uzumaki : The greatest prodigy**

 **REVIEWS!**

 **Satoru Ryoma: "Confrontation with kurenai was nice and in character, I've already let my worries go about characters being too ooc. You really got a good grasp about characters and let the scene play and makes easier for the reader imagine that this could actually happen in canon. Also can't wait for Sakura confrontation, sometimes I hate her sometimes I love her it changes from fic to fic but no matter what it is nice to see Sakura's awakening about she's not Naruto's world's center anymore." I'm glad that my presentation of the characters is believable. As for Sakura, I too am on the fence with her. Depends on the story really like you. And I agree, I love seeing Sakura wake up to fact that she's not the center of Naruto's world anymore.**

 **Antex-The Legendary Zoroark: "OMG! THIS WAS GREAT! LOVED THE CUTENESS/FLUFF!" I'm glad you enjoyed it!**

 **DragonzFire: "Go Naruto x Ino!" Thank you, good Sir/Ma'am. Hope on your continued support.**

 **ONWARDS TO THE STORY!**

 **Normal text – "Naruto"**

 **Thought text – '** _ **Ino**_ **'**

 **Jutsu/Bloodline –** _ **Rasengan**_

 _ **The Hero and The Florist**_

 **Chapter 4**

 **[Ino's PoV]**

It had been about 4 hours since Naruto had been the perfect gentleman and walked her from their lunch outing at Ichiraku's, and Ino was still on cloud nine, even if she didn't know that a certain pinkette and silver-haired Jonin had spotted them walking hand-in-hand unknowingly. When they realised that they were in fact holding hands, surprisingly, neither one let go, instead just blushed a little and continued walking. To her, it just felt natural, as if they'd done this so many times in the past. Although, she did have to resist the urge to lay her head on Naruto's broad shoulders, knowing full well it was too early for that level of display of affection, especially in public. She wasn't even bothered by both her father not only catching them in the act, but his teasing about it. What she was more worried about what her father told her.

 **[Flashback Start]**

"Thanks for walking me home Naruto. You didn't have to, you know." A slightly blushing Ino said, still holding his hand, not really wanting to let go, but knew she'd have to in order to get back to work.

"It's no big deal. If Pervy Sage taught me anything that wasn't perverted, it was to always escort a lady home after a…date" Naruto replied with a deepened blush at the thought of their lunch outing being a date, even an unofficial one, also not wanting to let go of her soft, warm hands that seem to fit perfectly in his.

It was Ino's turn to deepen her blush at the reminder of Ayame's insinuation of the lunch outing being a date and laughed, "I still can't believe that you called one of the Sannin something like that. I'm surprised he didn't beat you for it."

The male blonde joined in the laughter. "Yeah, guess I got lucky… but…I suppose it's because… he gave me my name through this book…" finishing in a sad tone, pulling out a book titled 'The Tales of a Gutsy Ninja.'

The young florist looked at him and the book with sympathy, not even being able to comprehend what it meant to him that his mentor might have been his godfather, which wouldn't be too hard to figure out, even for a knucklehead like Naruto. "Hmm, that might have been it."

It was then that her father opened the shop door, noticing the blushes on the future couples' faces and the fact they were holding hands.

"Welcome back love birds" Inoichi grinned as he watched them jump apart from each other, instantly letting go of each other, donning a deeper shade of red.

"H-hello Mr. Yamanaka, I-I hope that I didn't keep your daughter away from work too long." Naruto said as politely as he could, having also learned not to piss of the parents of the girl you were with.

"DAD! We aren't together! _Yet…_ " The young heiress fumed

Deciding to ease the young man infront of him, the father gave a gentle smile at Naruto. "No boy, you didn't, thank you for that." Then looked at his daughter at spoke to her via their telepathic link. "I don't know young lady, you two looked pretty content, even unwilling to let go of each other. Play your cards right and you could have him as your boyfriend in no time."

Ino only blushed deeper at that, trying to hide it from Naruto before responding "I honestly hope so… I really like him, and no, not only because he's 'The Hero of the Leaf', but because he's a really great guy. Not many would walk me home from just a simple lunch outing… I want to make it up to him for treating him so badly and ignoring him after being his friend real friend."

At the mention of the way she treated Naruto and hearing that his daughter was the boy's first friend, he felt guiltier then ever, but turned to Naruto. "well Naruto, I hope to see more of you. Ino needs to get back to work as well taking care of your request" then turned Ino giving her a "We'll talk more inside look" at which she nodded.

Naruto not being completely dense as everyone else thought and caught on to the underlying message. "yeah, I need to go check to see if there is anything I can do to help around the village. See ya later Ino" And takes off after giving his foxy grin and jumps off to rooftops.

Inside the shop, Ino went directly to Naruto's plant and started taking care of it and without looking her father. "So, why did you tell me to stay away from him when we were kids? Does it have to do with that chakra he used during yesterday's fight, or the reason those Akatsuki thugs want him so badly that they killed Asuma Sensei?"

The elder Yamanaka flinched at the tone of her voice and the questions. "Yes, it does… Tell me, did the Akatsuki say anything?"

Ino narrowed her eyes. "yeah, something about him being a Jinchuriki, whatever that is."

"Jinchuriki are for all intents and purposes, living sacrifices. Before I continue, you must know this could very well change your opinion of Naruto." He stated sternly.

"I doubt that… not after he helped avenge Asuma Sensei and managed to bring everyone back that died from Pain…"

At this Inoichi sighed. _'I hope I'm right about telling her about this… forgive me Naruto if this doesn't go well.'_ "17 years ago, on October 10th, the Nine Tailed Demon Fox attacked the leaf… you learned this in school, that the Fourth Hokage killed it that night. However, it can't be killed… no it was sealed… inside a newborn baby." He paused watching his daughter, seeing her eyes widen.

"Naruto…has the fox inside him…? Is that why the people hated him before now…? Why you stopped me from being friends with him?! Because of something that he didn't even have a choice in?! Yeah, ok, I wouldn't have been so understanding as a kid. How would anyone that young handle learning that one of your classmates had a demon in their gut? But in no way does it seem to be influencing him unless he loses control of his anger, which is what I assumed happened when we felt that ominous chakra after Pain stabbed Hinata. Why did the Fourth seal it within Naruto?" Ino was livid that she was denied someone that would have been likely been her best friend and possibly her boyfriend by now. Not to mention very happy if the lunch outing was any indicator.

Her father was flabbergasted at what she just said. She was ok with the fox being within Naruto? She was pissed that was reason she was denied a friend? He couldn't help but feel proud. "In all honesty, I don't know why."

She sighed. "I'm still not happy with you for denying me and him… you better make up for this Dad… "

 **[Flashback end]**

She couldn't believe that Naruto held such a secret within him… no wonder everyone used to hate him before he proved himself by defeating Pain. But she didn't care. No demon would be like him, protective, cheerful, even bashful. Hell, she didn't know how he could be so cheerful… If it were her, she'd given in to depression and taken her own life or given into the demon and killed the entire village or let it loose. She had even more respect for him now than she did after he saved the village. "You're really something Naruto…" was all she could say before closing the store for the day.

 **[Naruto PoV]**

After leaving the Yamanaka Flower Shop, Naruto made his way to the training field where he created the _**Wind Style: Rasenshuriken**_ and just as he was about to being training he sensed two chakra signatures. "You two can come out now, Sakura, Kakashi Sensei."

They came out looking slightly surprised. "Guess we shouldn't be surprised that you could sense us Naruto." Kakashi said.

Sakura, still being thrown from what Ino told her, just nodded to what their team captain and sensei said.

"So, what can I do for you two? I was just about to train." The blonde said, silently taking note of Sakura's distant look. _'Wonder what's wrong with her. It's not like her to be so quiet.'_

"Well, we were looking for you, when we saw you with a certain young blonde, walking hand-in-hand." The silver-haired Jonin spoke in a somewhat teasing voice and noticed Naruto's cheeks heat up slightly.

' _Crap, they saw us… is that why Sakura looks so distant?'_ "Yeah? We were coming from having Ramen for her lunch break" the Blonde said trying to keep his cool and not show his embarrassment.

"Must have been some lunch break to have been so lost in the moment not to notice. I'm happy for you." Giving Naruto his patent eye smile.

At this Sakura decided to speak up with an underlying tone of slight irritation and jealousy "Unfortunately Naruto, we aren't here with pleasant news… Lady Tsunade hasn't woken up since yesterday after you defeated Pain."

Naruto snapped to look at her. "What? Are you serious?! She used her seal again didn't she?"

Sakura just nodded before responding. "Before you go running off to check on her, Shizune is looking after her. I'll be headed that way myself after this to help… We don't need you to be making a racket when she needs her rest. Besides…" She gives Kakashi a glance "I'd like to talk with Naruto alone if you don't mind Sensei."

Both Naruto and Kakashi noticed the underlying tone that didn't leave any room for argument. "yeah, sure, I'll catch up with you later Naruto, I believe we have something to talk about regarding your fight yesterday." Naruto nodded, knowing the one eyes Jonin wanted to know about the ninetails. "Well then, I'll be off. Play nice you two." He finished as he disappeared in a puff of smoke, having used the _**Teleportation Jutsu**_.

"So, what did you want to talk about Sakura. I heard you were with Ino and the rest last night. Come to lecture me on rejecting Hinata?" clearly showing his irritation at what he figured she wanted to talk about.

"Yeah, that's right." Not liking his tone. "How could you let Hinata down when she risked her life to help you and confess at the same time when that girl had a crush on you since the academy! And you turn her down cause 'you're not ready to date yet?!' and yet you constantly ask me out every chance you get?! That's bullshit Naruto and you know it! Especially since we spot you walking hand-in-hand with Ino lost in lala land!" She yelled, living up to her name as the Banshee of the Leaf.

"I know she saved me and risked her life to do so but I just can't return her feelings alright! And as far as you are concerned…. I've realised you will never stop loving Sasuke, so give me one good reason why I should continue to chase after you!" Naruto yelled back

Sakura was shocked what she just heard, he was giving up on his pursuit of her because of Sasuke? Did he actually love her? "Give it a break Naruto, you've always been jealous of Sasuke, not just because I love him, but because he's always stronger than you. and what about this not being ready to date yet we find you walking Ino home, hand-in-hand?"

"If I were jealous of Sasuke, I wouldn't still be working to keep that 'promise of a lifetime' I made to you…." he said quietly, but with clear anger in his voice. "And why are you so hung up on Ino and I? You and I are nothing more than teammates and good friends, yet it's almost like you're the one that's jealous of us!"

Again, Sakura is stunned but quickly recovered. "Yeah right! Why would I be jealous of Ino pig… you know-" Naruto then cut her off when his eyes changed to blood red with fox like slits and deep, almost demonic voice she's only ever heard when he's channeling the Ninetails chakra. "Don't insult her in my presence again. Yes, I know she too may still be in love with him, you don't have to remind me about her being in the same Uchiha fan club as you or used to be. At least she doesn't beat me all the damn time. What's the real reason Sakura… enough beating about the bush!"

' _What's with him, he's never cut me off before much less_ _gotten_ _angry at me enough to use that demon's chakra.'_ "Fine! What is this about Ino being your first crush?! Why didn't you pester her instead of me all this time?!"

"…so that's it. I'm guessing Ino told you that last night after everyone else left." He said quietly, calming down as his eyes returned to his ocean blue eyes, but never lost the fox-like slits. "Yeah, she was my first crush, and the one who gave me my love for plants, even if it was just the one meeting, she was the first to be nice to me or even acknowledge that I even existed outside of being the "kid we should stay away from" before she gave into peer pressure and I'm assuming her parents had something to do with that too…"

"You don't know how much it hurt to have my first chance at having a friend being torn away from me for a reason I didn't even know till Mizuki told me that I had the fox inside me when we graduated… I didn't even know her name… and she seemed to either not recognize me or ignore me because of what everyone else said and was doing. But I don't fault her for it. I probably would do the same in her shoes. That is if I had parents growing up."

Sakura couldn't believe what she was hearing he just confirmed what Ino said to her. She was lost in her thoughts as he continued in his low, but angered voice. "As for why I didn't 'pester' her was because I didn't want her to get into trouble. That and she didn't even seem to recognize me. Besides… Do you really think that I simply moved on immediately? No… I didn't. Didn't you notice I didn't start 'pestering' you till the last year of the academy when we graduated? I can't believe the time I wasted chasing you… even going so far as to transform into Sasuke that day to see what you thought of me, going so far as to tell you that your forehead was charming and that I'd kiss it all day. I would have gotten a kiss from you then if it hadn't been for that bad milk I had at breakfast."

Now Sakura's world was shattered… _'that…wasn't Sasuke….? That…. was Naruto…? Those words meant so much to me… No! That can't be true! But… Naruto wouldn't lie about something like that… especially not as emotional as he is right now. Had I known that….'_ "That…was you?" was all she could manage to voice.

Naruto just turned to leave. "What does it matter? That happened almost 4 years ago now. I'm out of here, you go check up on granny. I need to find Kakashi Sensei." And leapt off into the treeline only to hear Sakura call out him asking to wait, but he didn't, and just took off. Not wanting to deal with her anymore, knowing she'd try to figure it out, giving him lecture along the lines of "Why didn't you tell me? I would've given you a chance!" or some bullshit not knowing how close to the truth he was.

After about 10 minutes of searching, finding Kakashi in a tent with Yamato, obviously waiting for him. Kakashi, being as observant as he always was. "Hey, Naruto, what's wrong? Your talk with Sakura did not go well?"

"I don't want to talk about it… Let's just focus on why you wanted to talk to me… the incident with the fox and the fight with pain right?" He said still aggravated with Sakura and couldn't get the look of shock on her face out of his head.

"First let's calm down… I get you're upset right now, but you don't need to take it out on us." Yamato spoke up.

Naruto knew he wasn't being fair and nodded while taking a deep breath to try and calm down. "You're right, I'm sorry."

"It's alright, now what happened with the Nine Tails… I was notified you went 8 tails and word is you almost completely turned into the fox… How did you reverse it…?" Yamato asked. Kakashi too was curious, even if he was technically dead at that time, learning of this surprised him greatly and decided to add. "And why did you resort to the fox's chakra? Neither one of us were around, be it temporarily dead or away on a mission."

Naruto lowered his head, his bangs hiding his eyes. "It happened when Hinata saved my life, confessed her love for me, then ended up getting stabbed through the gut with one of Pain's chakra rods… Seeing her seemingly lifeless body, I snapped… I gave in to my rage, I wanted to rip him apart… I almost let the fox out too because I was so angry, I couldn't think, and the fox used that… if it weren't for some interference within the seal I would have…"

"…what do you mean interference? What happened?" Was all either of them could ask, knowing that seeing a friend dying in front of him would set him off to such a degree.

"The... Fourth appeared inside my mindscape… he…told me he was my father… and reinforced the seal, stopping the fox and allowing me to regain control. Of course, I couldn't believe that my own father would seal the fox within me, but he explained it a little, saying he couldn't ask another parent to use their child as a vessel… no, he wouldn't have been fit to be Hokage if that were the case." The Jinchuriki said, tears rolling down his cheeks.

Yamato was floored at this information, but Kakashi, while surprised, gave the young man in front him a sympathetic look. "I see… so sensei helped you out huh… that's so like him to think that far ahead…"

It was Naruto's turn to be shocked. "You…knew my father…?"

The silver-haired Jonin just nodded in response, knowing Naruto probably felt betrayed.

"Why didn't you tell me….?"

"I believe I did tell you I was the Fourth's student, but I couldn't tell you that he was your father. Even as mature as you are now… you'd likely have been stunned, then excited, and told Sakura, and she would have told probably Ino, and that would have leaked to neighbouring villages. Some of which have a serious grudge against Minato Sensei… so you can't tell anyone, alright?" He said in a kind but firm tone.

Naruto nodded, understanding that letting people know would be bad with the amount enemies his father made during the Third Great Ninja War. "Alright, but it's going to be hard to keep to myself if I get a girlfriend soon."

"You mean Ino… what's going on there?" Kakashi asked knowingly, and poor Yamato was still shocked, now was even more confused, He thought Naruto was hung up Sakura.

The Jinchuriki sighed, knowing Kakashi would figure it out. "You see… I finally come to realize that Sakura will never give up on loving Sasuke, and that hit me hard, which is why I told Hinata I wasn't ready to date… but… Ino… she…was my first friend and crush, before she was told to stay away from me… those feelings only just started returning when I went to her shop yesterday to get flowers to thanks Hinata. And today, everything just felt right… I had even noticed we joined hands partway back to her home, but, that too felt right. Like her hand fit perfectly with mine."

Yamato grinned slightly, and Kakashi gave Naruto his eye smile. "I see, well just be sure to take it slow. You don't wanna mess this up."

"Yeah, I know. Anyway, I'm gonna go check on Granny. See you later!"

 **AN: And that's it for this chapter thank you again for all your support. Another special shout out to Senex for messaging me with a very kind private review. Please remember to review, either privately or publicly. It helps me out and lets me know my work is appreciated. I apologize if this chapter confuses anyone, I'll try to explain it best I can in pm if you need/want me to explain it. I'll try to get another chapter out this coming weekend on time!**


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: Thank you again for the support. I'd also like to thank** **Fleeting Interest** **for being my Beta Reader for this story and** **Down Ander** **for his suggestions. Now, since none of you have given interest in the original Chapter 2 where Naruto wasn't exactly nice to Hinata, I will not be posting it, not unless I get a lot of requests for it. I'll keep it on my computer til about Halloween. On to the reviews!**

 **Antex-The Legendary Zoraoark:** " **Excellent chapter. Keep up the good work. Also, you wrote down the talk with Sakura and Naruto really well. It's also true for me that my liking for Sakura tends to change from fic to fic, but man! You just wrote that part well! Keep it up.**

 **Till next update (which I hope is soon)!" Thanks. I'm sorry this chapter didn't come out as planned. But I am glad you enjoyed the scene with Naruto and Sasuke.**

 **curt466: "really like your story plz update more ahah" Can't promise I can update more than once week. But I am glad you are enjoying my story. Hope I can continue more of your support.**

 **Namikaze7777: "Keep up the good work man…really forward for more chapters…" Thanks. Hope you continue to enjoy it.**

 **Guest: "I think ino should have already known about Naruto being a Jinchuriki right" She might have. But I many put that in for character and relationship building purposes.**

 **Guest 2: "Not to sure if I liked Naruto here or not but I did love Ino and Sakura in this chapter" I'm sorry you didn't like Naruto here but I was trying to make him less tolerant to the way Sakura treats him.**

 **ONWARDS TO THE STORY!**

 **Normal text – "Naruto"**

 **Thought text – '** _ **Ino**_ **'**

 **Jutsu/Bloodline –** _ **Rasengan**_

 _ **The Hero and The Florist**_

 **Chapter 5**

 **[Naruto PoV]**

While Naruto makes his way to where Tsunade's tent was and, on the way, he did some thinking. _'Man, I hope Shizune doesn't question me about rejecting Hinata or lay into me for the way I treated Sakura… I'm tired of people giving me grief over Hinata, and Sakura pushed me too far… insulting Ino like that… I don't care if they have a past, Sakura gets mad at me for insulting Sasuke whenever she's around. I don't see how it's any different. I'm done letting her hit him over the littlest thing. At least Kakashi Sensei and Captain Yamato seem to be_ _in_ _my corner regarding things… Granny Tsunade will probably lecture me as well when she wakes up… Shizune is always a mystery. Guess I'll see when I get there… just hope Sakura isn't there right now. I'm really not in the mood deal with her right now.'_

When he does arrive, Sakura walks out of tent and turns her head to the side, as not to look him in the eyes and walked past him without saying a word.

' _huh, guess what I said must have had more of an effect than I thought.'_ Naruto thought as he walks into the tent and speaks with a concerned tone, both for Tsunade and the possibility of a lecture. "Hey Shizune, how is she?"

"She used a lot of her chakra, Naruto… I don't know when she'll wake up, or if she will. The seal really takes a lot out of her everytime she uses it… and she's never used it on that large of a scale before…" The dark-haired medic replied in a slightly depressed and concerned tone for her teacher, but she turns to look at the blonde before her. "Now, I heard you turned down Hinata, and stood up to Sakura earlier today when she laid into for it. I must say I'm shocked, but also proud of you. I've never agreed with how she kept hitting and yelling at you for the admittedly stupid things you do. In all honesty, I'm sure if it weren't for the fox inside healing you all the time, you'd have brain damage by now."

They both chuckle lightly at that. "Yeah, I wondered if Pervy Sage had any after-effects with how much Granny hit him" he said somewhat solemnly.

"That said, I am surprised you turned down Hinata. However, hearing that you seem interested in Ino Yamanaka, I'll support you as long as you're happy."

Naruto was shocked. He didn't expect Shizune to support him, He half expected a lecture, he's still expecting one from Tsunade when she wakes up. "Thank you…"

"However, you really shouldn't be fighting with your teammate like that… You two have been friends for quite awhile now. It'd be bad if you ruined your friendship over pity arguments." Tsunade's Assistant finishes.

Naruto sighs, he knows this is true, but he still felt Sakura went too far... "…I know you're right… but I'm done letting myself get hit by her. I won't hurt her, not intentionally anyhow. Did she tell you about the fight?"

Shizune shook her head as to say 'no' "She didn't say anything. However, she did look troubled… did you say something to shake her?"

Naruto nodded. "I told her about this time when we were kids… I transformed into Sasuke to find out how she felt about me only to learn she found me annoying… and told her that I loved her forehead, that'd I'd kiss it everyday…"

Shizune nodded, that would shake her fellow apprentice. Sakura had told her how much that moment meant to her. Naruto too, seemed to understand that that moment seemed to mean a lot to his teammate, but at this point he didn't care…

"Anyway. I'm gonna head out. I need to get some training in. Sakura and Kakashi Sensei interrupted me before."

 **[Normal PoV]**

Over the next week, Naruto and Ino spent a lot of time together, whether it had been just chatting in her shop, going out for lunch, or training together. Yes, Ino had started training with Naruto, figuring she needed to work on her taijutsu. And over the past week, the two blondes had gotten quite closer. However, they still weren't 'officially' dating, even if everyone who saw them together could tell that they were always off in their own little world. In fact, they wouldn't be surprised if someone were to walk in on them to find them cuddling, her head on his shoulder, his head on hers. Not that they had gotten to cuddling yet, but the obvious attraction was there.

In fact, we find Naruto and Ino walking towards Yakiniku Q to meet Shikamaru and Choji. The other two-thirds of the InoShikaCho decided it was time to confront the man that "wasn't dating" their teammate and childhood friend. No matter how much they denied it, everyone knew it was only a matter of time. Even Hinata, who got declined and was naturally upset at finding out her lifelong crush was interested in someone else, but she was happy that they seemed happy and would support them as long as Ino didn't hurt Naruto.

"Hey! Naruto! Ino! Over here." Choji called out to the future couple grinning seeing the common sight of them walking hand-in-hand. "What a drag… can't you guys walk like normal friends and not be attached to the hip?" Said the lazy shadow user

Naruto looked at Ino, and Ino looked back at him, then they both looked back to their friends in a unified "NOPE!" not even fazed by being caught holding hands after a week of walking like that. In fact, they both had identical grins, and Naruto pulling her into a close hug, which caused a squeak of surprise Ino.

"Naruto! I told you not to do that!" Ino said trying to sound angry but had a big smile and slight blush on her face. _'I love it when he does this, love being in his arms period… just wish he'd cuddle with me… but I need to be patient. I know he's still being cautious of Hinata's feelings even if she gave us her ok…'_

"Oh, you know you like this." The male blonde teased, blushing as well, having thoughts of holding her a little more intimate than this in private. _'I really do enjoy holding her like this, and even though Hinata wished us well for some reason… I mean we aren't even dating yet and Inoichi, Hinata, and even Neji are ok with us… it's only Sakura, Kurenai, and Hinata's teammates that seem to have a problem. Especially Kiba… I thought he was gonna rip my head off if Hinata didn't call him off…'_

"Alright you two, let's get inside… There is a reason the two of us called you two lovebirds here. We'll talk over Barbeque…." Shikamaru said, slightly annoyed, but secretly happy to see the bossy blonde truly happy, grinning internally. _'Maybe we won't need to test him… of course we still will, even if it's gonna be such a drag…'_

' _Man can't wait! Shika said he was paying for all-you-can-eat, even if it's_ _to_ _test Naruto… not that I believe we need to. Besides, Ino's likely gonna shoot this down before it begins. She hates it when we do these eating contests'_ Choji thought, his stomach grumbling.

"Alright, we don't want poor Choji to waste away." Naruto grinds, still holding onto a blushing Ino.

Inside the four took a booth, Naruto and Ino sitting on one side, Shikamaru and Choji on the other, and ordered their drinks. "So, I'm just gonna get straight to the point as to why we're here. While Choji and I support you two 'not dating', as much of a drag as it's gonna be, Choji and I agreed to test you Naruto to see if you're worthy of our teammate and childhood friend." Shikamaru said in his usual bored tone.

"WHAT?!" Shouted a furious Ino. "I'M PERFECTLY CAPABLE OF JUDGING AND DECIDING WHO IS WORTHY OF DATING ME!"

"…and remind me of how well that went 3 years, pining over a certain raven-haired emo…" Quipped the shadow user.

"…Yeah? Well Naruto isn't anything like Sasuke! He may not be the sharpest tool in shed…" she paused earning a 'Hey…!' from a pouting Naruto… "But he's kind, actually cares about his friends and precious people, always ready to defend those people from any harm, and will not purposely hurt us either… Not to mention he's a perfect gentleman." Stopping once more looking around and finishes quietly so that only the 3 of them could hear her. "and I don't care that he has the strongest of the tailed beasts inside him. Naruto is Naruto… not the fox…"

This earned a shocked look from Naruto. _'She knows… and yet she_ _was_ _still willing to hang out with me…even be seen holding hands with and lets me embrace her like that in public… knowing there are still people in the village who still hate me…?'_

His fellow blonde noticed the shock on his face, took his hand and gave it a reassuring squeeze as Choji and Shikamaru just nodded at what she said.

' _They know too…'_ he mentally chuckled, _'of course they knew… Shikamaru probably figured it out_ _a_ _long time ago and these three share everything even if he hadn't figured it out. Ino would have told them by now…'_ He smiled and wrapped an arm around Ino's shoulders, pulling her close, and whispers "Thank you…"

She smiles and rests her head on his shoulder, knowing the weight and meaning behind that thank you, giving him a nod. "Don't worry about it. Though you do owe me for not telling yourself."

Naruto just grins, nods, and tells her via her telepathic link that she was able to establish while they were touching. "Well, how about I tell you something else that is likely classified an S class secret that I shouldn't know myself later when we're alone?"

"Why can't you tell me now…? No one else can hear us."

He mentally chuckled, "Because while I believe in your restraint, this is really big news and you'll likely repeat what I saw in a very loud way."

Ino just nodded at that. If it was as big as he was insinuating, she likely wouldn't be able to restrain herself and end up spilling something that could get her killed, as it was with all S class secrets.

"…if you two are done with your private conversation…. Can we get onto what test is….?" Said an annoyed Shikamaru, knowing that they were likely using Ino's family jutsu to talk if their facial expressions were any indicators, while a very hungry Choji was hoping he could eat soon.

"I didn't agree to let you test him in the first place!"

"It's ok. I have a feeling as to what it is… a food race… or endurance challenge… am I right?" The Jinchuriki said in a knowing tone.

"That's right, although I think Shika is just being overly protective and cautious… I know you'll treat her right, and if you don't, I can always ground your body into dust so there wouldn't be much to bury…" The Akimichi started in his usual jolly tone but finished in a serious, but grim tone showing he meant it.

"CHOJI!" Ino shouted.

"Ino, chill, it's ok. If I ever did hurt you, whether we're dating or not, I'd deserve it." Naruto smiles.

Ino sighed and Choji just nodded in approval, thinking _'Well he passes my test. Not many guys would be willing to stand up_ _to_ _that kinda promising threat'_

Shikamaru sighed, not really wanting to pay for the ensuing feast knowing how much Choji could eat, but he did promise his best friend regardless… "So, if we're gonna do this, can we agree to it before the waitress gets back?"

"I'm game." The Jinchuriki said.

"No, Naruto. We'll have lunch with them but I'm not going to watch you and Choji pig out on meat and make me sick while doing so…" Ino said firmly.

"What a drag… then how about a-" The Nara started before being Ino cut in. "Enough Shikamaru! My Dad has already approved of Naruto, that should be enough for you! If not you know damn well he'll treat me right, let's just have lunch and go back to our busy lives… Dad is expecting back at my shop, I'm sure Choji's family is expected to help with debris, and you are likely need at the village defense to plan against future attacks in case the Akatsuki come back."

"Troublesome blonde… fine… then just let me say if you hurt her, you'll be joining Hidan in my family's forest." The shadow user said defeatedly but seriously.

"As I said to Choji, I'd deserve it… I promise you both that I won't hurt her purposely and that I'll protect her with my life in combat." The Uzumaki said seriously, holding her closely, almost possessively at which Ino smiled at him but frowned at Shikamaru for threatening Naruto.

The rest of their lunch outing was enjoyable. Choji got his all-you-can-eat, Naruto and Ino enjoyed a few shared helpings of their own, and Shikamaru only had one helping before deciding to take a nap, knowing that he was gonna be there for a while since he said he'd pay, even if Naruto ended paying for his and Ino's portion saying something about he wasn't gonna let Shikamaru pay for their meal and Choji's, knowing full well how expensive barbeque is compared to ramen and how much the fa…er big boned chunin could eat.

Yeah, Naruto almost committed a taboo that could have gotten him killed… Common knowledge among the Leaf, never call an Akimichi fat… that will lead you to an early grave in the most painful way imaginable.

As Naruto and Ino were about to leave, a certain pinkette ran towards them looking like something big has happened. "Sakura, What's up…?" Naruto asked, having calmed down but hasn't talked to her since their fight.

After catching her breath, Sakura kept her gaze away from meeting the future couple. "Oh..um.. Hey Naruto, Ino, I just wanted to let you know that Lady Tsunade has woken up and wants to see you two… especially you Naruto."

Ino and Naruto sighed at Sakura's nervousness both thinking _'Is she still bothered by what I/he said to her? She had better not be planning to try and get in the middle of us.'_

"Alright Sakura, thanks. We'll head right over to her tent… She's still there right?" Ino replied, not knowing whether or not Naruto was upset with her best friend or not.

"Y-yeah. She is, she maybe eating to regain her strength though. See you later." The pinkette said as she ran off, she was still sorting through her feelings and thoughts about the male blonde's revelation and didn't want to talk with him any more than needed, especially since he and Ino were always seemingly joined at the hip, nailing in the fact that Naruto has given up on asking her out.

The blonde duo just sighed and started making their way to Tsunade's tent. When they arrived, they took a deep breath, let go of each others' hands reluctantly, hoping to minimize the possible backlash they both were expecting, and walk in together.

Upon entering, Tsunade looks up from her twelfth bowl of beef and rice dish, causing both Naruto and Ino to sweat drop a bit thinking the same thing once again. _'At least she has an_ _appetite_ _.'_ "Oh, there you two are. Thank you coming so quickly." The Fifth Hokage said putting down her food. "I'd like to thank you Naruto for defeating Pain and restoring the lives we lost during that battle. I'd like a report on what happened before we get into the more personal matters I'd like to speak to the two of you."

So, Naruto told the events of what happened. Ino looked shocked that a simple talking to this Nagato was enough to change his mind and put his faith in the person he set out to capture, where Tsunade just smiled thinking. _'Just like you, Naruto, to be able to sway even your enemies to put their faith in you… Jiraiya did say you had a special gift… looks like he proved that once again… Although I am surprised Nagato was Pain… that little redheaded shrimp that Jiraiya trained… and Konan was_ _a part_ _of the Akatsuki… Wonder how Jiraiya felt, learning they were alive after they were pronounced dead all those years ago…'_ Then shook her head. "I see… Thank you Naruto… seems many people owe you their lives…"

It was then that Shizune ran into the room in a fright. "Lady Tsunade! The Council hasn't received word that you've woken up and are calling an emergency meeting with the Feudal Lord! They are going vote in a new Hokage!"

All the Blondes in the room said in harmonized in shouting "WHAT?!" Tsunade stood up in a furious rage. "I'm sorry Naruto, Ino, we'll have to continue this later, I'll get the details of what happened after the battle when I finish beating some sense into the council!"

"Let me come with you as an escort! Besides I have something I need to find out… Something which I need to ask you on the way _Lady Hokage_." Naruto emphasizing those last two words, showing he was serious, shocking the three ladies in the room.

' _Naruto's never that formal… could this have to do what he wanted to tell me later, the possible S ranked secret.'_ Ino thought. Shizune and Tsunade were having similar thoughts only thinking that he must have learned something he shouldn't have. "Very well Naruto, Let's go!" Tsunade nodded and ran out the tent.

As Older and younger blonde ran to the Council Hall, Naruto was glaring at the Hokage and she noticed the glare. "What is it Naruto, you've never glared at me before."

He didn't say anything other than "You'll find out when you get to the council, I have feeling they had a hand in the decision not to tell me" in a deep, almost growling voice.

 **AN: Well there we go, sorry to leave you all with a cliffhanger like that, it'll just give you all something to look forward to next week! What do you think Naruto is gonna reveal to Ino and confront Tsunade and the council about? Next time all will be revealed, as well as the arrival of Samui, Karui and Omoi. How will that encounter go now that Tsunade is awake and Naruto at her side. Will Sakura attempt to get in between Naruto and Ino despite seeing them obviously happy together even if they aren't "officially" dating yet. Please leave a review and hit the follow button if you've enjoyed the story so far! See you all next week, and if things go according to plan (which they normally don't) you might get a special chapter on Ino's Birthday.**

 **Also, I will be in need of a new proof/beta reader. If you are interested please pm me. Updates will be once a week and usually one the weekend. Also there will hopefully be a new Cover Photo for this story by next chapter.**


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: Thank you for the continued support. Unfortunately I won't be able to make a special Ino Birthday Chapter. But with any luck this chapter will be out on her birthday September 23** **rd** **. I'd like to thank Cario Regun for agreeing to be my new beta reader. Onwards to the Reviews!**

 **Antex The Legendary Zoroark: "Interesting! I enjoyed this a LOT! Wonder what Naruto will be saying to the council? Does it have to do with his heritage? Guess we'll find out next chapter. Also, I wonder how the Kumo Trio team thing is going to go as well… See ya next update!" Glad you enjoyed the last chapter. I won't spoil the reveal and confrontation with the Council, Tsunade and Ino. Things will be interesting to be sure.**

 **hawkeyestratos1996: "his heritage" Maaaybe…**

 **Carlos619: "bro, I was liking this story until you added all this bs about him being an ass for not accepting hinata. you dont have to love anyone or be with anyone you dont want to be with. It's not your job to make them happy. just irritates me. he doesnt havee to explain himself to anyone. it's his choice" Yes, I completely that it's not his job to make everyone happy, and that's it his choice… but I had to put it in since this is part drama, and it keeps people in character. Do you really think that Hinata's friend would sit quietly and not raise a fush? Especially Sakura? No, I believe they'd all confront Naruto and give him a piece of their minds and then, overtime, they'd accept Naruto's moved on and found real happiness.**

 **draculyn28: "Very good chapter, I hope the continuation, greetings." Thanks for the kind review**

 **Sergeant Daniel: "I'm really liking this story. It's very interesting in terms of reading. I can't wait for more, update soon:D" Thank you Hopefully you'll like this chapter!**

 **MidnightRE: "Hmm, while I don't mind NaruIno...I don't think I can read this story with Ino being such a shady character talking behind her friends back. I can only see Ino undermining Hinata's feelings for Naruto as hero worship and putting ideas into Naruto's head. We all know he's not the smartest tool in the shed, and thus susceptible to suggestions.**

 **It ain't hero worship if it happens before he's a hero." I'm sorry that you can't continue. However, I do believe it is idolism or hero worship. Hinata starts liking him after he saves her from bullies teasing her about her byakugan and starts stalking/watching him from the shadows when he trains alone... even adopts his nindo.**

 **Some might call that quiet support but I call that stalking idealism or hero worship. I was gonna include that scene of Naruto saving her in a flashback but didn't see the point... if you like to see how this chapter was gonna go where I included that flashback and him turning her down a lot harsher than let me know. I can either email it or post it if I get more requests.**

 **xQueen-Of-Applesx: "Again not the top NaruIno shipper as I like the canon couples but I like this chapter especially Choji and Shikamaru," Thanks Levy. Hope you enjoy this chapter as well.**

 **Guest: "I need more of this story" Wish granted!**

 **ONWARDS TO THE STORY!**

 **Normal text – "Naruto"**

 **Thought text – '** _ **Ino**_ **'**

 **Jutsu/Bloodline –** _ **Rasengan**_

 _ **The Hero and The Florist**_

 **Chapter 6**

 **[Naruto PoV]**

Naruto and Tsunade arrived at the Council Meeting Hall where it was Tsunade that kicked the doors off their hinges. "WHAT DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING TRYING TO REPLACE ME?! I GO INTO A MERE WEEK COMA AND YOU TRY TO USURP ME?!" The Fifth Hokage shouted, getting attention of everyone, especially the Feudal Lord and Danzo.

' _Of course Princess Tsunade would wake up just as I put my plans into action. And what's the Nine Tails Jinchuriki doing here?'_ The old war hawk thought with distain, gripping his cane harder.

The Feudal Lord on the hand, spoke up verbally. "Lady Tsunade, while I'm overjoyed you've woken up and appear to be in perfect health, I'd ask you to calm down. This meeting was only called because your village needed leadership and stability. Now that you are awake and well, I don't see any reason to continue this meeting." And was ready to stand and leave when Naruto decided to step forward.

"I would like to speak with this council, if I may." The young hero asked as politely as possible despite being as angry as he was.

"And who might you be, you look awfully familiar…" At this, Naruto clinched his fists tightly, which Tsunade saw and decided to speak up, letting Naruto calm down, getting an idea as to what he wanted to talk about.

"This is Naruto Uzumaki, the Nine Tails Jinchuriki, and the young man who defeated Pain." She said as she took her seat at the table.

"Indeed? Very well then, proceed young man." The Fire Lord stated, clearly having heard of his accomplishments.

"I wish to know why it is that this council deemed it necessary to hide my parentage from me… when I look so much like my father… The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze?!" The male blonde desperately trying to keep his cool and not release some of the fox's chakra.

Everyone in the room was shocked and went wide eyed, some didn't know what he was talking about, but everyone was clearly able to see the resemblance…

Danzo, being the cunning old war hawk, he was, decided to speak up. "While you do indeed resemble The Fourth, where is the proof of your claim?"

Tsunade just sighed. "I have the proof, DNA tests done 16 years ago. I can verify this once the files are recovered, should they have survived. For now, you'll have to take my word, not only as Hokage, but as a Medic Ninja." Then looked at Naruto, "…as for why we kept it from you. It was to protect you… Your mother and father had a lot of enemies. Here within the village" She paused sending a glare to Danzo, who glared back "and many outside the village, Hidden Stone and Cloud being two that come to the top of my mind. All of which would have sent assassins to kill you."

Naruto nodded, accepting that answer. "Then will you tell me who my mother was…" saying a tone that clearly didn't leave any room for agreement.

The last remaining Sannin braced for the backlash from Naruto and the council. "Your mother's name was Kushina Uzumaki, also known as the Red-Hot Habanero, or as her enemies knew her, the Red Death." The entire council gasped at that reveal, Tsume Inuzuka, The InoShikaCho trio and other friends of Kushina in particular looked at the young man in front of them, whom looked stunned.

"You…mean to tell me… that I have a clan, and I've been lead to believe, my entire life that I was just a civilian…" Naruto, clinging his fist tighter, his bangs covering his eyes.

Inoichi spoke up then "Not only that, he has been the Heir to the Uzumaki clan and it's been hidden from us? Many of us were friends of both Minato and Kushina! We would have taken him into our homes as family!"

"I do not know why this was not made public knowledge… Danzo…?" The Hokage looked at the Foundation operator as did everyone there.

"There was no proof of his heritage-"Tsunade interrupted by slamming her fist into the table. "Bullshit! Sensei knew, he had his own wife be the midwife to help deliver Naruto! You just wanted to keep him from gaining strength, hoping to claim him into your organization that should have been disbanded years ago at the command of the third hokage, when he was at his lowest and turn him into an emotionless weapon!"

The Feudal Lord looked at Danzo. "Is this true? I do believe I agreed with Hiruzen to have The Foundation disbanded."

Danzo was fuming, he contemplated using the Sharingan he stole from Shisui to get him out of this sticky mess but with Hiashi Hyuga there and could see through the genjutsu and dispel it, he would be in an even sticker mess. "It was necessary for the safety of the village." Was all he had to say.

"Danzo Shimura, for insubordination, I am hear by calling for your arrest and full investigation into what dealings and missions your organization have done illegally." The Feudal Lord commanded.

"Anbu! Take this swine to Ibiki!" Tsunade commanded and two Anbu appeared and grabbed onto the war hawk. But Danzo resisted.

"If you think I will go quietly, you are mistaken" As disappeared in puff of smoke via the **Teleportation Jutsu**. "FIND HIM! Naruto can you use **Sage Mode** to find him or Hiashi with your **Byakugan**?" Tsunade asked in her commanding voice.

Hiashi just activated his bloodline and attempted to locate the now criminal with no success. "I'm sorry Lady Hokage, he is out of my field of vision."

Naruto was still too angry to respond and just shook his head 'no' knowing if the Hyuga clan head couldn't find Danzo, he couldn't with how long it took to go into **Sage Mode**. But just then Sakura ran into the tense environment looking winded as if she ran all the across the village.

"Lady Tsunade! Envoys from the Hidden Cloud are here with a message from Lord Raikage!"

"What?! Lead the way Sakura! Naruto, come along, we'll talk more later." Tsunade yelled clearly irritated at everything seemingly happening at once. At this Naruto just nodded.

As they left Inoichi felt sorry for the young hero, he grimaced as he thought about what his wife, who was close with Kushina, would say when she found out. Not to mention Ino, how would she react that her romantic interest was the son of a Kage and heir to a near extinct clan.

 **[Ino's PoV]**

Ino had decided to wait for Naruto while he went with Lady Tsunade to the emergency council meeting, one she knew her father would be in attendance, therefore the shop would have been closed since she was out with Naruto. During which time, Shizune and Ino had an interesting chat.

 **[Flashback]**

"So, I hear you and Naruto have been getting close this past week…" Shizune started not really feeling comfortable talking about it but it was better than waiting in silence and good to avoid what was likely on the platinum blondes mind.

Ino nodded as she had a dreamy smile. "I only hope that he asks me out soon, it's like we've been friends forever and we just have this spark… I lose track of time when I'm with him. It's like we're in our own little world whenever we're together."

Shizune could clearly see the girl was completely in love. She knew Naruto would be happy when they became an item. "Well, just be patient, I'm sure he'll ask you soon. I can tell he feels the same by the grin he always has this past week."

"I know, just frustrating when I know that the only man I want is him… Sasuke was just a stupid fangirl crush… but Naruto… my heart rate quickens, I feel whole when I'm around him, and when he's not, like now… I feel like a piece of me is missing. I know without a doubt that I love him… and not because he's a hero now or anything like that… I'd be lost without him." Ino said in the same dreamy state, her fist clinked over her heart knowing full well she was most likely blushing, but she didn't care. She knew she was in love with her fellow blonde.

Shizune just giggled softly. "Yep, you're in love Ino… I'm happy for you two… but you know that he will still likely keep his promise to Sakura and bring Sasuke back right?"

Ino sighed and nodded at that. One of Naruto's best, and worst traits was that he always kept his word… even if it involved someone who abandoned their home… and promise to another girl…

 **[Flashback End]**

She was pulled out of musing when a rather busty blonde, looking a few years older than her, and said bust that could very well rival Lady Tsunade's, came into the tent with two dark skinned teens her age. They had the forehead protectors that labeled them Cloud Ninja.

One of the teens was girl with shoulder length red hair, piercing yellow eyes, her bandana style forehead protector, a katana strapped on her back and her body language was that of a girl with a quick temper but was calm unless provoked.

The other teen was boy around the same age, with a standard style forehead protector, short spikey white hair, dark eyes, a lollipop stuck in his mouth, and like his companion, he had a Katana strapped to his back.

The Blonde busty woman spoke up. "I was told that the Hokage could be found here… I have a message from my Lord Raikage. Where is she?"

"Lady Tsunade is in an emergency council meeting, I can send for her and she should be back fairly quickly." Shizune replied, immediately her on her guard in the presence of the foreign ninja.

"Please do, this is an important matter that I require an answer to right away."

Shizune was just about to ask Ino but Sakura came into the tent, instantly turning to leave when she saw Ino still there. "Sakura, can you please go to the Council meeting hall and let her know we have envoys from the Raikage with an important message."

"Yes, of course Shizune, I'll be back with her as fast as I can." Replied the pinkette knowing the urgency of the matter at hand and ran off.

"Please wait here, we are still rebuilding after we were attacked just last week, and our Ninja are on high alert." Shizune requested and the three Cloud Ninja nodded in understanding.

 **[Normal PoV]**

10 minutes of running across the village, Tsunade and Naruto arrive at the tent and walk in with their guards up, the former having an aura of authority, speaking to the 3 foreign ninja "You three must be the Raikage's messengers. What do you have for me?"

The Blonde stepped towards the Hokage and gave her the scroll and respectfully stated. "Lady Hokage, please read this and give us a reply as soon as possible."

The red-head just glared at the two blondes, the male clearly standing protectively in front of female blonde, while her teammate with lollipop in his mouth was looking around nervously, most likely over thinking everything.

While Tsunade read the scroll, Naruto whispered back to Ino. "Hey, you ok?"

"I'm fine, they haven't done anything other than wait for you and Tsunade to get back. What about you? Are you ok? You seemed so upset when you left and even more so when you got back…" Ino said as she put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'll tell you later, right now isn't the best time… something tells me this message isn't exactly a friendly house call." He said ready to pounce at a moment notice.

After a few minutes, Tsunade's eyes widen. "That damned idiot! What was he thinking joining the Akatsuki!"

All three Teens were shocked at her outburst, but it was her appreciate at spoke first. "W-who joined the Akatsuki…?" asking and hoping that she was wrong.

"Don't tell me…" Naruto gapped with Ino doing the same only voicing what they were all thinking. "Sasuke…"

"Yes, Ino, Sasuke Uchiha has joined the Akatsuki and attacked the Raikage's brother… He is calling for a Five Kage Summit as well as calling Sasuke to labelled as a Missing Ninja which, as much you three might not want to hear it, should have done a long time ago." The last Sannin said sullenly.

Sakura just fell to her knees, crying into her hands. Naruto growled slightly but sighed agreeing with Tsunade, he knew the only reason Sasuke had so much freedom was because she was holding off on labelling him as such for Him and Sakura. Ino looked indifferent, a week ago she would have broken down crying like her bestfriend, but now that she's moved on and completely in love with the village hero, she didn't know to feel.

The Cloud Trio looked at the three teen ninja's "If you have any info on Sasuke Uchiha, give it to us! He killed our Master!" The redhead shouted, forgetting she was in the presence of the Hokage.

"You will get your info, but do not shout at these Ninja. One is my apprentice, one is the heir to the Yamanaka clan, and the male there is the hero of this village that defeated the strongest of the Akatsuki." She said in a threatening tone that promised pain if they pushed any farther, then turned to her subordinates. "Unfortunately… I have no choice. Sasuke Uchiha is hereby an S-classed Missing Ninja… with a Capture on sight order and to be delivered to the Raikage as requested in this scroll. I'm sorry Naruto, Sakura, but your pursuit of your former teammate is now over. It's out of my hands now."

Surprisingly Naruto calmed down and nodded. "If he's joined the Akatsuki and attacked one of their Jinchuriki, then you're right." He paused looking at the shocked looks on everyone from the leaf in the tent and the cloud for figuring out that their Master was a Jinchuriki, wondering how. "However I request permission to accompany them in hopes to aid them in saving their sensei." This shocked everyone even more, Ino held onto him more, as to say she didn't want him to go, and the rest of the leaf in area that he asking permission to assist the Cloud, but Tsunade knew why… She knew that Naruto still missed Jiraiya greatly as wished he could have saved him rather than going off to chase Sasuke. The cloud was surprised because he said "save" at this the red head lost her temper and threw a punch at Naruto. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN SAVE! YOUR UCHIHA KILLED LORD KILLER BEE!" However, Naruto caught the punch, looking her dead in the eye. "Karui, calm down now. You're going to cause an international incident." The busty younger blonde said in calm but firm voice, which caused the now named Karui to gulp and mutter a "Sorry Samui" and lower her fist after being let go. Samui turned to the Male blonde. "You there, what is your name and what did you mean 'save'?"

"It's Naruto Uzumaki, and I said 'save' because the Akatsuki are after people like me and this Killer Bee… they are after Jinchuriki and need them alive to extract the tailed beasts sealed within."

"NARUTO!" Tsunade couldn't believe he'd let a village secret like that in front of foreign ninja that could very well be enemies in the near future.

The Cloud ninja just gapped at him for the same reason, but Karui quickly recovered and got a hopeful look in her eyes "Omoi did you hear that?! We might still be able to save Lord Killer Bee!"

The White-haired Cloud Ninja, now identified as Omoi was just as ecstatic, but then started over worrying. "Yes, but what if we are too late. What if while we're standing here talking, Lord Bee is being tortured, and having his energy sucked out of him, crying out asking where we were, and cursing our names as they kill him after they were done!"

"YOU IDIOT!" the red-head shouted as she clobbered him over the head "Don't jinx us before we even start looking!"

Samui just sighed and facepalmed "So uncool, I apologize for my team…"

If Sakura wasn't still crying she'd be laughing at how much she and Karui seemed alike. A thought not lost on her close friends. _'Jeez, those two remind me of Sakura and I… only I don't over think things and go to the worst-case scenarios…'_ Naruto thought out.

Having recovered from her shock, Tsunade returned to her Hokage state of mind. "As you wish Naruto. However, you will have to wait until after the summit. The Raikage demands it be held in a week's time in the Land of Iron, and I am allowed to bring two bodyguards and you will require the Raikage's approval to assist in Sasuke's capture. Therefore, I am going to assign you and Kakashi as my escorts. Get ready. We leave as soon as the Cloud get all our info on the Akatsuki and Sasuke."

"Yes, Lady Hokage." Naruto turned to Ino with a sad smile. "Looks like my news will have wait til I get back… I promise I'll come find you the second I get back."

"You better be careful and come back safe… I don't know what I'd do without you." The Yamanaka Heir, failing to keep the worry and affection she has for him out of her voice.

The blonde hero pulls her into a tight hug. "I don't know what I'd do without you either - mph!?" He, Sakura (who had finally stopped crying), Shizune and Tsunade all looked surprised as Ino interrupted him by kissing him full on the lips.

"Something to give you more instinctive to come home..." She said with a full-blown blush.

Naruto just stood there in a daze, only dumbly nodding thinking _'D-did…Ino just kiss me…?'_ before snapping out of it and smirked. "Oh, don't you worry… When we get back, I'll tell you everything, during a real date…" Whispering the last bit into her ear, low enough that only she could hear it before kissing the young florist back, leaving her in a full body blush and dreamy look on her face. He then turned to go get ready for a long trip, not knowing he'd be facing Sasuke much sooner than he thought.

 **And that's a wrap for this Chapter. I'm sorry that changed the whole encounter with Team Samui. I didn't agree with what Kishimoto did with Karui and Omoi attacking Naruto, Sakura and Sai while Samui gathered intel. Yeah, I get that Karui's a hot head, but she should have had the common sense not to attack local ninja in their own village. That's an international incident waiting to happen, one that with Tsunade awake in this story, would have enacted with how close she is with two of the three ninja's that would have been involved. I might have Karui and Naruto have an official duel or something in later chapters, maybe even the next. We'll see.**

 **Tell me what you thought of the scene with the Council and how I handed Team Samui's part. Until next week!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hey guys sorry for my absence this past year. Things have been very hectic for me, and I haven't either had a computer to write stories or I've been too busy to write. Either way I apologize for unintentional hiatus. I'm back now and will updating as often as I am able. When that is will determine on how things go in real life. I would like to thank you for the continued support and all the favorites and follows and reviews over the last year.**

 **ONWARDS TO THE STORY!**

 **Normal text – "Naruto"**

 **Thought text – '** _ **Ino**_ **'**

 **Jutsu/Bloodline –** _ **Rasengan**_

 _ **The Hero and The Florist**_

 **Chapter 7**

 **[Normal PoV]**

Naruto and Ino leave Tsunade's tent leaving everyone there in a daze briefly before working quickly to gather all info on Sasuke and the Akatsuki, what Naruto and Ino didn't know was that Sai had been following Naruto since Danzo fled the Leaf. He was doing so since he was conflicted with what he should do, should he betray his new friends or should he follow Danzo again and likely face the emotional repression training again now that he was starting to regain the ability to feel emotions again.

Whichever choice he made, he knew that there would be consequences and as long as he had Danzo's _**Curse Mark**_ on his tongue like the other root agents, he wouldn't be able to help Naruto and the Leaf in their pursuit of his Master.

It wasn't until Naruto and Ino stopped and Naruto spoke up, "You can come out now Sai… I'm actually surprised you're still here…"

"I shouldn't be surprised you sensed me following you…" the pale Root Agent sighed as he stepped out of the shadows.

"What do you want Sai? Are you under orders from Danzo to watch me… cause if you are still following his orders, it won't end well for you." The Blonde Jinchuriki said getting into a protective and guarded position between him and Ino in case a fight broke out.

Sai seeing this, and knowing he shouldn't take Naruto in a fight he tried to ease the tension. "I am not here to fight… nor am I currently under orders… I am trying to decide what it is I should be doing…"

Naruto didn't lower his guard, instead was even more cautious. "Then why follow us? Shouldn't you be talking to Granny? Or off somewhere thinking?"

"Naruto! At least give him a chance. He was still part of your team and still might be if he stuck around." Ino tried to defuse the tension, even though she, herself didn't fully trust the pale shinobi, not she knew him well to begin with.

"Fine, but we're going back to Granny so she can decide what to do with you." The male blonde said knowing that his new girlfriend was right.

Sai and Ino both nodded, the former knowing there wasn't anything he could do, and that if he resisted, he'd likely be killed. So, they made their way back into Tsunade's tent, only to see the Cloud ninja walking out to find a place to rest while they waited for the Intel on Sasuke and the Akatsuki.

"Sorry to intrude Granny, but we found Sai following us." Naruto said as he led Sai in with Ino standing next to her boyfriend.

"Is that so. Well then Sai. I trust you'll co-operate with us." The fifth Hokage said in a stern voice with Shizune standing at her side.

"I'm afraid I cannot be of much help." Sai replied, catching the four shinobi glaring at him. "It is because of this" as he opened his mouth and showed the _**Curse Mark**_ on his tongue making the others in the room to look startled, Naruto glaring at it with hatred.

"You see, I am unable to talk about Lord Danzo or do anything that would anything that would discredit him, if I do, this mark will leave me paralyzed until he himself removes the paralysis." The Root agent finished.

"I see… then I have no choice, you will have to be taken into custody for being part of Root. Shizune, take him to whatever prisons we have in place at this time. Afterwards gather whatever info you can salvage about the Akatsuki and Sasuke." Tsunade ordered.

"At once My Lady." Shizune said grabbing hold of Sai's arm and lead him of the tent.

At this point both Tsunade and Naruto sighed "And just when I thought we might have a lead or someone to lead us to that old War Hawk… Thank you for bring him to me you two. Now, go relax you two, knowing Shizune, she'll spend the rest of the day collecting the info, and don't do anything too strenuous." She says with a grin, seeing both Naruto and Ino blushing up a storm, knowing what she meant.

 **[Time Skip Next Day]**

After a day of cuddling and having one last meal together before Naruto was to head out, Ino is at the front gate ready to see him off and wish him good luck. Naruto is standing with Cloud Ninja, Tsunade and Kakashi. As Tsunade predicted, Shizune had gathered all they were able to recover in the past week, which wasn't much, but would have to do. They didn't have the time to search for more. Regardless the Cloud were thankful for the physical info and knew that the people accompanying them had more info that would be shared.

"You better be careful Naruto! I don't to hear that you got yourself hurt or killed by Sasuke, alright?" Ino said trying to sound firm but the concern was very clear in her voice.

Said knucklehead smiled. "I can't promise not to get hurt, but I won't let him kill me. I promised I'd come back, and I always keep my word" he finished and pulled her into a farewell kiss which she gladly returned, moaning a bit into it.

She was going to miss him but she knew he had to do this. Sasuke was unredeemable now and as much she wanted him to return for Sakura's sake, the young florist knew that the last Uchiha was likely coming back in a body bag, if at all if the Cloud had anything to say about it.

Sakura blushed seeing Naruto and Ino kiss again, hearing her best friend moan because it made her jealous and sad at the same time. The past two days she's been mulling over what Naruto told her and what has happened between over the years. He sacrificed so much for her and always did what he could to cheer her up when she was down only to turn him down when he asked for a simple date. She knew he wouldn't be bugging her anymore now that he had Ino and knew that she missed out. But she had to try and get him back. She wouldn't lose to Ino when it came to romance, however she knew she had to bid her time to confront Naruto when Ino wasn't around.

' _I'll follow after him and confess my love for him… maybe then not only will he not kill Sasuke but leave Ino… I'll need help from a few of my friends to make it seem like a mission to assist Naruto but that shouldn't be a problem, I'm sure I can get Kiba, Hinata and maybe Lee to come along'_ She schemed.

"Alright Lovebirds, break it up. You'll have plenty of time to make out when he comes back." Tsunade said in an official but teasing tone.

Said lovebirds reluctantly broke from their kiss, knowing it would be quite a while before they saw each other again, Ino left in a daze and Naruto smirking slightly before turning to his travel companions. "Alright. Let's go." saying while adjusting his pack. The Cloud Ninja just sighed and shook their heads all thinking _'What kind of idiot openly shows that kind of affection in front of outsiders... that is a major advantage for his enemies.'_

Samui however decides not openly comment on it but talk about the mission. "Alright, as agreed, we'll meet with the Raikage and request approval for Naruto to accompany us to find Lord Killer Bee before the enemy can extract his tailed beast, as well begin our search for the rouge Uchiha."

All ninja nod and head out, while Karui glared at Naruto, knowing the blonde knows a lot of about their quarry, however she doesn't say anything knowing she's already been close to starting trouble. However, Naruto was already getting annoyed with the blatant glaring. "If you have something to say without attacking me, then say it... you glaring at the back of my head the whole way is going to be annoying. If it's about what I know about Sasuke and the Akatsuki then drop it. I don't feel like repeating myself. I'll share all I know at the Summit."

Samui decides to speak up seeing the open invitation for some insight. "Why are you willing to go out of your way to help us? You said you were a Jinchuriki, shouldn't that mean you should stay within your village it's surely safer?"

The Blonde male of the group growls. "If you haven't noticed, most of our forces are focused on border patrol or rebuilding our village. We don't have to spare to 'defend' me. Besides, not to sound arrogant but that this point the only people capable of doing so are right here, with maybe two exceptions, The Hokage and Kakashi Hatake. You were told yesterday that I was able to defeat the strongest of the Akatsuki. I am able to defend myself." He says trying to stay calm. "As for why I'm willing to help you, my sensei died fighting them, and one of my best friends was a Jinchuriki and is only alive due to a brave sacrifice from one very kind old lady... So, if there is a chance I can help someone save their sensei from the Akatsuki, then I'll do all I can to do so."

This causes all accompanying ninja to look sullen and the Cloud Ninja gain some small amount of respect for the young Hero of the Leaf.

' _I should have known that was the reason he requested to come along. However, he's selling himself short... I doubt I can be much help once you enter_ _ **Sage Mode**_ _, especially with that_ _ **Rasen Shuriken**_ _of yours.'_ Kakaski thought but said nothing.

 **[Time Skip Half a day later]**

The travelling Ninja were about to cross the border to the Land of Iron when Tsunade decided to call for them to stop. "Alright, before we go any farther, I want to make it perfectly clear that we need to be on our best behavior and have the upmost respect for the Samurai, offending them could lead to beheading" She says looking directly at Naruto. Kakashi also looks at Naruto.

"Hey! I can be respectful!" Naruto protested early chuckles from everyone that knew him. The Cloud Ninja were curious what was going on.

"To be fair, He has been very respectful since we've met him. Angry, yes, but respectful." Samui defended the male blonde.

"That maybe be, however, he's made quite a name for himself for being disrespectful. He called his sensei, Jiraiya, Pervy Sage. He called me Granny, and while I know it's out of affection, such nicknames towards the wrong person will get him imprisoned at best, beheaded at worst" The older blonde female retorted.

"Alright! Alright! I get it! I'll be respectful to the Kages and the Samurai during the Summit granny..." Naruto pouted, only proving Tsunade's point to the Cloud Ninja.

"My Lady, we should get a move on. We don't want to keep the other Kage waiting." Kakashi said, deciding to come to his student's aid.

Deciding that the blonde knucklehead had enough, "Yes you're right. The more time we waste here the less chance we have to save their sensei."

Everyone nods and starts running again, only to almost run into the Raikage, literally, on the way.

"Lord Raikage!" The Cloud Ninja cry out before bowing.

"Team Samui, why are you traveling with the Leaf Ninja?" Ay said out of curiosity in his deep voice. Ay was a big man. Tall dark skinned, with massive muscle with weight bracelets on both arms with white slicked back hair with matching goatee, wearing his Kage cloak open showing his broad chest, grey shinobi pants with Cloud sandals and a Boar emblem belt.

"Pardon me Lord Raikage, we are traveling together so that my blonde companion here may make a request of you as well have some information in regards to your brother and the Akatsuki, as well Sasuke Uchiha." Tsunade decided to step forward. "It's a pleasure to see you again Ay, been quite some time... since my apprentice saved your subornation's life if I'm not mistaken."

"That it has... I hear you have gotten over your disability." the Raikage sneered "what is this information and this request?"

Naruto now stepping forward. "My Lord, my name is Naruto Uzumaki-Namikaze. I have come as a guard for Lady Tsunade for the summit as well as to request that I accompany your shinobi to find the Akatsuki and rescue your brother." says with as much respect as he can muster, adding a bow for effect.

"Namikaze?!" Ay and the Cloud Ninja were shocked, but now getting a good look at the blonde before him, he could see his old adversary in the boy. Tsunade and Kakashi were shocked that he'd reveal his heritage infront of the Leader of a foreign land.

' _what is that idiot thinking revealing his heritage like this!? Not even our village knows!'_ Tsunade thought while Kakashi figured out his plan. ' _very clever Naruto, knowing your father is famous and likely fought against the Raikage in the past, it's a high-risk, high reward gamble.'_

"So, the Yellow Flash had a kid... He was the only one who could match my speed and one of few who have earned my respect. What is this about rescuing my brother?" The Cloud Leader asked calmly.

"I have it in good authority that Akatsuki need time to extract the tailed beast within... How much time I do not know. As for how I know, I figured it out on my own, the Akatsuki only target Jinchuriki, or at least that's the only reason they'd sent Sasuke Uchiha. I wish to help locate and rescue your brother and saving him from death."

This was good news for the Raikage, but wondered how he knew about this supposed time required. "And how is it that you came across this information boy?"

Naruto glanced at Tsunade who shrugged and nodded. "Because I am the Jinchuriki of the Nine Tailed Fox, and a few months ago, myself, Kakashi and the rest of my team went on a mission to assist in the rescue the Kazekage from the very same threat. However, we arrived too late and he had his tailed beast extracted and was killed from the process. Lord Kazekage is only alive due to a sacrifice of a kind old lady, who exchanged her life for his own. The method how she did it is not for me to divulge."

Ay had known that the Kazekage was a Jinchuriki due to his spies but to hear Gaara had died and come back was news. "I see... and what information do you have on Sasuke Uchiha?"

Tsunade decided to step in now "I'm afraid that we will have to save that for Summit Lord Raikage. If we do not hurry, we will be late for the Summit you called for."

"Hmm very well, as for the boys request to accompany my shinobi to find my brother, that unforunately will have wait... as he is your guard, and all Kage are required to have two guards in case of an unlikely attack." Ay said, even though everyone could tell he wanted nothing more to send them off right away. "Samui, you and your team may come along however, you will have to remain outside of Summit area. Only the Kage and their guards are allowed within."

"Of course, Lord Raikage." The Cloud Ninja said in unison. With that all Shinobi moved towards the meeting place at top speed.

Along the way Kakashi pulled beside Naruto with Tsunade doing the same. "That was a very risky gamble you pulled back there... you're lucky it paid off, or we'd be in even deeper hot water than we already are with Sasuke being from our village." Kakashi said in a hushed tone.

"He's right, if that went badly then this Summit could have been over before it started, with a bad result... which more than likely would in the worst-case scenario would be War." Tsunade chided Naruto in an equally hushed tone.

"Yes, I know, but it was the best chance we had to get him to listen to us that I could think of. However, it's unfortunate we can't go track down the Akatsuki right now... I am however your guard currently. I can only hope we aren't too late or THAT could lead to that worst-case scenario." Naruto replied knowing full well it was risky.

"You're right. However, we don't even know where to start. They could have their hideout anywhere. All we can just to is hope. Come on we're falling behind." Tsunade said as she picked up speed as did Naruto and Kakashi.

 **Well that's it! Sorry it's short but I figured I'd leave the Kage Summit for the next chapter since it's gonna go similarly to canon, with differences of course since Naruto will be there able to fight off against Sasuke and Ay has claimed down knowing that there is a chance to save Killer Bee. As of right now I am unsure if I have a Beta Tester for this story. If my old Beta is still interested, please contact me via PM. Look forward to** **No More Lies** **and For The Love of Maple to be updated within the next week, if goes all goes well that is. I also have a discord. If you wish join, please inform me that you came from this story.**

 **eKtpwZ8**


	8. Author Note

Hey guys. It is with a heavy heart that I have to announce that I no longer have the motivation to continue this story. This was my first story but at the same time it wasn't. As I said in chapter 1, I adopted this from FleetingInterest. I am now doing the same. Please PM me and let me know why you'd wish to adopt The Hero and the Florist.

I hope that those who have supported this story along the way will understand and support my other stories. No More Lies, Trails of Chained Steel, and For the Love of Maple will continued but with slow updates.

Once again I apologize, I know I said to a couple of you that I would never abandon a story, but I feel this what I need to do.

Hope to see you around!


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